We be jammin

My friend Libby is an amazing jammer, but she plays no instrument. When Libby jams late at night it involves big vats of boiling water, mason jars, fresh local fruits, lots of sugar and lots of love. When Libby moved last week she left me a whole flat of homemade jam! I really feel like I have a box of gold bars in my closet, it's that precious. Strawberry, fig, apricot, plum ... the list goes on. 

Today for lab meeting it was my turn to bring in food, and I remembered a treat Robin used to make when we were little - cream cheese and jam on crackers. So I bought some buttery wheat crackers and whipped cream cheese. I simply spread the cream cheese on the crackers and topped it with a generous amount of, drum roll please, homemade apricot lavender jam. Served with blackberries and some baby peaches from my coworker Rosie's back yard and it was the perfect snack. I don't think there's much of that jam left at all. Libby, your jammin really rocks!

Mango Indignation

I bought a mango at the g store for Reeves. He informed me that he no longer eats mango in his smoothies. Indignant, I turned to Alice Waters for inspiration. She offers this very simple salsa for fish or chicken (actually, hers is a little more subtle than mine; she used 1/2 c. cilantro. Helps to be Alice Waters and always have lotsa stuff in the frig):

One mango, peeled and diced
about 1/4 c vidalia onion (she says "sweet")
small amount of jalapeno, minced
juice of a lime

Mix and let it sit a while.

Desparation Tomato Sauce

I'm moving out of my summer home in a week, so I'm trying to make meals out of the odds and ends lurking in my pantry and fridge. I wanted to make a tomato sauce to top some pasta I have. I didn't have a blender, but this turned out to be a blessing--this sauce is delicious and pretty!
heat EVOO in a frying pan
add 1/4 vidalia onion (diced)
add 2 cloves garlic
allow to cook until tasty
add 1 can diced tomatos, drained
season with chili powder, coriander, cinnamon, and ground pepper and allow to simmer, uncovered, until your pasta is done cooking

Russian River Valley

I went to wine country today! It was beautiful. I was DD ing, so I limited myself to small sips of Zinfandels at each place we went. I love Zinfandels, and the Russian River valley is a great place to go to taste them. It was neat just focusing on one grape for the day because you could really appreciate how distinct and complex the various vintages were. The best one of the whole day was at a very small winery that was doing barrel tastings. I swear I was tasting caramel on my tongue for like 10 minutes after having a sip. Unfortunately, at $40 a bottle with a three dollar minimum it was prohibitively expensive. Grad school is not really the most opportune time to become a lover of wines. 

I went up there with two of Oliver's friends who are visiting from New York. They are both really warm people and I had a lot of fun, despite not knowing them well at all. One of them is a really native of the city, and he occasionally entertains me with his New Yorkness. For instance, I pointed out a lemon tree at a winery and he was commented "So you can just eat the fruit that grows on that tree?" If there is anything a New Yorker can seem naive about, I suppose it is fresh produce. 

At that particular vineyard we had a nice little picnic that I had packed under the fruit trees in their lawn. I brought cumin spiked tofu (a recipe from 101 cookbooks), black bean avocado salad, good coleslaw, and pita chips and artichoke dip. I was pretty pleased with my menu. I'll give the recipe for good coleslaw (not to be confused with gross coleslaw, of which there is plenty) since I'm tired and it's short and you all should try it in any case.

Good Coleslaw

1/2 head green cabbage, chopped

~ 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

4 scallions chopped

2 T toasted seasame seeds

1.5 T lime juice

1 T rice wine vinegar

2 T olive oil

Mix together the vegetables, cilantro and seasame seeds. Whist together the dressing and coat the vegetables. Makes a nice crisp accompaniment for any number of picnic foods.

Now I leave you with this question: Why would anyone EVER have a beer when you could be drinking wine? 

In praise of sandwiches

I don't know that sandwiches count as recipes, but sandwiches are amazing (and I haven't cooked anything interesting lately) so I will post two of my favorites--the fried egg sandwich:
Heat EVOO in frying pan
Add two eggs
Cook slices of sweet onion in a different part of the same pan
Sprinkle crushed rosemary onto eggs
When the eggs start to make ominous popping sounds, flip them over
As the onions and eggs cook, ready the rest of the sandwich: spread cream cheese and a red vegetable (bell peppers or tomato) onto bread.
Assemble sandwich.
Enjoy.

Tied for seignority in my sandwich Valhalla is my take on the Californian:
1/2 avocado, sliced
tomato, sliced
grainy bread
hummos
sprouts
cheddar cheese
Assemble sandwich.
Enjoy.

I also enjoy a pb & j frequently, but I believe that requires no explanation. It does merit comment, however, that the 14 oz jar of Maranatha peanut butter that I am currently working through was found, unopened and abandonned, during graduation week this year. Who would discard such a treasure?!

So simple and so good

Last night I made an easy and delicious eggplant dish. I LOVE eggplant, but making the eggplant dishes Robin makes always seem a bit daunting. They sometimes involve cooking the eggplant and then doing stuff with it. I firmly believe that once you have cooked something, you shouldn't have to do anything else to it. Its time to eat at that point. As a result of my laziness I haven't been eating much eggplant. And I miss it. So I found this simple recipe on the internet and decided to give it a try, with a few modifications. Now, before I give you the recipe, let me admit, it is not quite eggplant season yet. I'm sure the eggplant and pepper will be tastier and more ecologically sound in a few weeks. All I can say for myself is that I consider this a warm up, so that my eggplant stomach will be fully prepared for the bounty to come.

Eggplant Goodness #1

1 eggplant in 1' slices

2 red bell peppers in thick strips

1 green bell pepper in thick strips

1 onion, sliced

1/4 C olive oil

Thyme

Fresh basil

Salt the eggplant slices and press out the water into paper towels by putting something heavy on top (I used my frying pan). Put all the veggies in a large, shallow baking tin (I used the bottom part of my broiler). Toss well with 1/4 C olive oil and a reasonable amount of dries thyme. Cook at 350 for 40 mins, or until the eggplant feels soft when poked with a wooden spoon. Garnish with fresh basil.

Suzanne - there is no meat in this dish! I had it with a cumin rubbed chicken breast, which was a great combination, but I could imagine other ways to eat it. Maybe mixed with some nice whole wheat penne, balsamic vinegar and olive oil? It would be kind of like a warm pasta salad.

Desperation Chicken

With thanks and apologies to Jody's Improv Chicken. I had chicken breasts in the freezer and canned tomato in the pantry, so I figured I could pull off a cheap imitation.

As did Jody, pound the breasts (not to worry, chickens aren't mammals, now, are they?)
Brown them (ouch) w/ ground pepper& snips of dried hot pepper.
Sautee 1 onion, chopt, 1/2 ragged green pepper found at back of vegetable drawer, sliced, and 1 clove garlic, minced.
Remove from pan and save for topping after all else is cooked.
Add to pan 1 can diced tomato and boil down for 5 min. Add the chix and cook on low for 10 min or so, till chix seem done.
Put in the chiffonaded basil and rosemary (which we had in abundance!) for the last minute.
(No cheap white wine in the house but can had lotsa tomato juice)
Cross fingers.

Tuna Helper's evil twin

Lobster Jailbreak.
Hey! this blog is on California time!!

Tuna Helper

Is nasty. Don't eat it.

That is all.

Delicious Bittersweet Dinner

Last night we had two dear friends over for dinner. It was a happy/sad event: happy because they are getting married in three weeks (!), sad because they are moving back to the midwest in three days. Libby and Randy have been out here in Berkeley for a few years now, and in that time we have had many wonderful little adventures together. Libby is also and AMAZING cook, but more to come on that later. 

Anyways, I managed to throw together a nice little dinner in no time. All the recipes are Robin's, of course. I made ginger/soy/sake marinated flank steak with a cold soba noodle salad and some broccoli. We had a nice Syrah with dinner. Then for desert I made a blueberry and white nectarine crisp with whip cream. We had that with a bottle of champagne Robin had got as a present for Libby a while ago. It was really good champagne! Good work mom. 

Libby and Randy especially like the Soba noodle dish. So here's the recipe for that one:

Cook 12 oz of buckwheat soba noodles (boil for about five minutes). Cool by running under cold water. Whisk together 1/3 C rice vinegar, 1 T soy sauce, 1.5 T sugar, 1 t salt and 2 T canola oil. Toast 2.5 T sesame seeds. Chop up six scallions and 1/2 C of mint. Toss the soba noodles in the vinaigrette, sesame seeds, scallions and mint. Serve! Its easy and delicious.

Libby and Randy will be greatly missed here in Berkeley. But I am consoled by the fact that they will be lighting up a town somewhere else, and other people will get to know and love them.  

Baby Shower Bread

Some of the clinic profs had a shower for Lily and Greg Camet (bottom left of photo) at Chez Toby. The food came from Whole Foods. But I later used leftover green olive tapenade in some whole wheat bread, to great effect, as follows.
For the bread mix:

• 1 cup hot water
• 1 T. yeast
• 1 cup King Arthur Old Fashioned whole wheat bread

Mix this up until it looks like a slurry, then let it sit to develop the yeast flavor, while you take a small saucepan, add 1/2 cup wheatberry to 1 1/2 cups cold water, bring that to a boil, and let it simmer 3 minutes, then sit for an hour.
Then add to the bread mixture:

• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/4 c. green olive tapenade (contains garbanzo beans, green olives, eggplant, tahini, red pepper)
• 1/2 cup eggbeaters, or 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 small vidalia onion, chopt
• The soaked wheatberry
  

Mix this up, and add more flour. Once it gets pretty stiff, start kneading the mixture on a surface covered with more flour. Knead and add more flour as necessary until mixture looks pretty tight. Continue as with any bread. When the dough has risen twice, punch it down and put it in a loaf pan lined with parchment. Let it rise one last time, then cook it at 350 degrees for 32 minutes.

Vegetarian Bean and Mushroom Chili

This recipe was inspired by and dedicated to the package of mushrooms that had been living in the fridge since our dinner party last weekend.

Cook 1 c. (dry) kidney beans in vegetable stock, save for later.
Cook 1 c. (dry) rice in 2.5 c. vegetable stock.
Heat EVOO in a large sauce pan on medium heat.
Add 1/2 vidalia onion and 2 cloves garlic and cook until the onions weep, ~5min.
Add 6 oz. baby button mushrooms, cleaned and halved (don't wash them--just rub off the dirt with a brush or paper towel). Add spices (chili powder, cumin, cinnamon) and salt to taste. Cook until the mushrooms release their juices, ~5min.
Add cooked beans, 1/2 can diced tomatoes, approx. 1/2 c. tomato-based pasta sauce, and approx. 1 c. vegetable stock.
Bring to a boil and then cook uncovered over low heat until it has the desired thickness (~5 min).
I served it over rice with sharp cheddar cheese.

Toby is thinking about food. He stationed himself in the living room during the shower for Lily as soon as Lucy brought in a plate of hors d'oeuvres which included roast beef. He did not beg from the party guests, which I thought showed great discretion, but enjoyed some of the leftovers.

Improv Chicken

So last night Oliver had very nicely volunteered to make chicken. He is, by the way, a fine cook. However, last night he was "distracted by SNP [single nucleotide polymorphism] data". This never happens to me. Does it make me a bad scientist that random data would NEVER, EVER, distract me from making dinner at 9:30 at night? Anyways, I ended up improvising some chicken breasts and they turned out just great. I suppose you  could substitute tofu, Suzanne, but it would probably kind of suck. 

So .... first I pounded out two large breasts with my iron skillet. Then I salted and peppered them, and browned them in olive oil. While that was going I diced half and onion, minced two cloves of garlic, and julliened a bunch of mini bell peppers of assorted color (it ended up being somewhere between 1 and 2 cups).  After the chicken breasts were browned I transferred them to a plate. In the same pan I cooked them in I sauteed the onion (3 min), added the peppers and cooked them a bit (4 min) and finally added the garlic and sauteed them (two min). While that was going I chopped 2 tomatoes, cut up fresh rosemary from two sprigs, and chiffonaded (is that a word?) a big handful of fresh basil. I then added the tomato to the pan along with some white wine, about enough to cover the bottom of the pan by 1 or 2 inches, and a good pinch of sea salt. I cooked that a bit, bringing it to a strong simmer, then added back the chicken breasts. You can add some flour to thicken the sauce if it looks like it needs it. When the chicken was cooked through I added the fresh herbs and cooked it for another minute or two. I served the chicken breasts with the sauce/veggies laddled on top generously. Here's what took it over the top: on top of all that goodness I added crumbled dill goat cheese. It was so good!

Huckleberries

Jody corrected my erroneous usage of "huckleberry" to refer to the rubus strigosus growing on Mill Creek Landing. Alice Waters confirms that huckleberries, as Jody said, are blue and separate (not an aggregation of drupulets, as is the case with raspberries). She has a recipe for huckleberry ice cream. Amazing what you find online: a late-19th century medicinal book recommends raspberry cordial (1 pint strained juice, sachet of clove, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, 1 pound of sugar, and 4 oz. brandy) for diarrhea. Medicine maybe no, but an indulgence for the weary, yes.

Bachelorette Party Food

Yesterday night I hosted a bachelorette party for my dear friend Libby (of the food blog "Cafe Libby"). Libby is a domestic goddess, no question about it. So although bachelorette parties are not known for their sophistication, I wanted the food to be somewhat classy. In addition to standard snacks (chips, veggies, crackers, gaucamole, lots of hummus), I made some dessert. The desserts were a hit, if I may say so myself. I made a peach melba crisp! It had a standard crisp topping (2 C oatmeal, 1/2 C flour, 1 C brown sugar, 1/2 t cinnamon, 6 T cold butter cut in all that, no nuts). For the fruit filling I used seven big white peaches (boiled for a few minutes to remove the skin) and two small containers of raspberries, tossed with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, and the juice of half a lemon.  Top with the oatmeal mix, bake in a 400 degree oven until bubbly and golden brown (45 min to one hour) and your done. I finished it off with fresh whipped cream. We also had a big bowl of different types of fresh cherries (cherry season has come and gone in California, but we're still getting them from Washington). But the piece de resistance was some cupcakes filled with a marshmellow vanilla cream concoction. They were kind of like homemade twinkies. The girls loved them. We got lots of great pictures of people posing with their cupcakes, laughing, raising a suggestive eyebrow. Does that seem strange? Oh, I forgot to mention that the cupcakes were made in a very special cupcake molds that gave them quite a distinctive shape ... these are some  cupcakes you only make in your twenties :)  

Vegan Lentils and Rice

On my computer screen, the "Food for the Apocalypse" entry ended in a bunch of wild-looking random characters--a little disconcerting.

I created a delicious vegan recipe last night--no, "delicious vegan" is not an oxymoron!

Heat one capful of extra virgin olive oil (or "EVOO" for devotees of Rachael "Oprah" Ray) in a large sauce pan (medium heat).
Chop ½ Vidalia onion. Add to pan and cook until tasty.
Add 2 cloves garlic, minced. Cook ~1 min more.
Add 3.75 c. stock, 1 c. brown rice, and ½ c. raisins. Increase heat to high.
When stock begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add ½ can tomatoes, 1 c. red lentils*, ½ tsp coriander, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 30 more minutes (add more stock during this time if necessary).
*if you use brown lentils, add the lentils at the same time as the rice.

I served it with rainbow chard from the Brunswick farmer's market, served with 1/2 cap EVOO and nutmeg.

Yield: Approx. 4 servings
Cooking & eating time: the duration of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Bernstein conducting)

Happy Fourth!

Toby enjoys some almond butter and cream cheese (with Jody's approval)

Food for the Apocalypse, part 1

Waffles

Mix
1 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 T. sugar

Whiz
1/2 c. eggbeater or 2 eggs
1/2 c. almond oil
1 1/2 c. milk

Stir them together. Top the cooked waffles with thin apple slices sauteed in almond oil 'til they are light brown and crispy looking.

Almond Oil

Lest some hapless reader stumble upon this blog and think that Toby and I are the only contributors with weird affinities to random foods, I think something needs to be said about almond oil. Late last night I looked into the pantry here at Chez Toby for a snack, and found dried mangoes and A LOT of almond oil. Like 7 large cans. And 3 cans of hazlenut oil. Let us just say, when the exotic nut oil apocalypse comes, my mother will be well prepared.

Almond butter and fat free cream cheese

Though its not really a recipe, I think almond butter and cream cheese warrants an entry. This flavor combination is good on just about anything, or all by itself. Today, after having some almond butter and cream cheese on an apple for lunch, I decided to give some to Toby. He was moaning incessantly by the mudroom at his imaginary demons, and I thought it might distract him for a little while. It did, but now he has just returned to the moaning with new energy.

The Pie Post

Suzanne's mini-pie must have been a real treat. Did it come in a mini-pie pan? But I have to take take issue with her main point. FIrst, I don't think Toby licks his rear, or any naughty bit whatsoever, any more. His arthritis is probably too bad. He doesn't lick his elbow much these days, either. I hope that means that the infection is under control. He had his last antibiotic this morning and goes back to Dr. Adams next THursday. But more importantly, I believe that his affiliation with this blog - - gracious and selfless as it is - - will allow us to contribute significantly to the science of nutrition (if not to culinary art). In this respect, Toby is the subject of a behavior modification experiment which Jody devised. As we know, Toby has concerns (one might say fixations or delusions, but let's keep this dignified) about the mudroom. Denied entry by the closed door, he will lie nearby and groan. When he squeezes through the gap between the door and the wall and enters this mysterious place, he barks. He looks upward toward the sink when he barks. But Jody is probing the hypothesis that his barking refers to a desire for - - - our topic! - - food. To demonstrate that this might be so, she has moved his bin out into the corner of the breakfast room. The result for now is that Toby will bark and groan in two places: near the mudroom, and, now, in the breakfast room. Maybe this proves JOdy's hypothesis. Time will tell.

Pie

Toby licks his own rear end and therefore has no business being affiliated with a foodie blog. He shares my love of chocolate--nay, exceeds it, as I would cease loving chocolate were it poisonous to me--so I'll let it slide.

My cooking is far lamer than Mom's. I eat lots of peanut butter and jelly. If ever I make something interesting, I'll let you know. I do excel, however, at eating.

I ate a wonderful Maine blueberry mini-pie that I purchased at a farmer's market in Brunswick, Maine yesterday. It was incredibly old school--it even had lard in the crust! I didn't remember that lard came from pigs when I bought it (oops) so I went ahead and ate it. It was fabulous--the crust didn't fall apart like one made with not enough butter or get crunchy like one made with too much butter. As for the size, the mini-pie was adorable but had too high of a crust-to-fruit ratio.

Let's eat!

Welcome to Chez Toby! This will be a food journal where Robin, and maybe Jody and maybe Suzanne will post recipes. Mainly Jody will visit it around 5 pm CA time and wish she were home with her mom! Toby is a border terrier who eats mainly kibble, but provides an inspiring presence around the kitchen nonetheless.