Summer Fruits: The Bounty Continues

The little peach tree in my parents' backyard is easy to overlook. It sits at the edge of a field, not quite part of the lawn and not at all part of the ancient apple orchard.  It's a little scrawny, slightly lopsided, a wallflower amidst the blousy peonies and brazen dahlias. For a couple of years it bore no fruit at all. Last summer it was partially run over by a reversing tractor. I wondered if it would make it through another winter. My mother, on the other hand, never lost faith in the little tree and did what she could to nurture it and coax it into good health. Whatever she did, worked. During my last week in Maine as autumn made its first chilly pronouncements, the peach tree put forth more fruit than we could eat.

And what fruit it was! Beneath the slightly-too-furry skin of each small peach was golden flesh, soft and sweet and perfectly tart. We ate them in granola, made them into crisp, piled them on top of cardamom cake and pancakes. One late morning I decided to marry the fruits of our seemingly endless bounty. I can't recall ever eating tomatoes and peaches together before but suddenly it made sense. Both fruits, in season and at their best, are juicy, textured, and tantalize the tongue with flavors that shift as you chew, from sweet to acid and back again.

I toasted a few pieces of Tinder Hearth bread (no other bread worth eating if you live in the state of Maine), spread them with a thick layer of ash-rind chevre, and topped them with spicy arugula from the garden, yellow tomatoes and thin slices of peach. Though I am home now in California and without said peach tree, I am not without peaches, tomatoes and very delicious bread. I've got this one on repeat. For another week or two, as the east and west coast growing seasons mystically align and the same produce is found most anywhere you go, I recommend eating tomatoes and peaches--together or separately--while you still can. Savor those last bites of summer.

Tomato & Peach Sandwiches

Delicious crusty bread

One ripe but slightly firm peach

One ripe medium sized tomato

Handful of spicy baby greens

Good, slightly stinky chevre

olive oil

salt & pepper

Cut four slices of bread, each about an inch thick. Toast.

While the bread is toasting, slice the tomatoes and peaches into thin slices. Once the bread is ready and while it is still hot, spread a generous amount of chevre onto each piece of toast. Layer greens, peaches and tomatoes in whatever order you prefer. Salt and pepper generously and drizzle with really good olive oil.

Eat. Repeat.

Breakfast Beans

The beans I soaked last night have swollen in the bowl. Plump, burgundy beans like polished beach pebbles and a name like a comic book exclamation. ADZUKI!  I pour them into a large pot and add more water. The screen door lets the last hour of cool air into the kitchen. I play Patsy Cline on a loop. I pull lycra over my head, over my hips. I like how it compresses my flesh, holds me tight, will not budge. The beans begin to boil and the steam smells like hot earth. I fill water bottles, I stuff my pocket with packets of viscous sugar, I leave my bike shoes by the door. When the beans are nearly done I throw a handful of salt in the water. I slice fat crescents of avocado and split cherry tomatoes in half with a sharp, blue knife. I drain the beans and scoop some hot from the colander. A clove of garlic and an egg in the pan. Each bite is muscle flexed and contracted, the turn of the pedals, the cadence quickened, a hill climbed. I eat my meal and picture the ride. An hour later I am winding up the road on my old Trek bike. The acacia still blooms in the shady hollows but most has given way to a thick cloak of jasmine and early California lupine. There are deer on the road, hawks above the vines, flop-eared rabbits half-hidden in the mustard between the rows. The road keeps climbing and to my right the road falls away to a narrow valley of eucalyptus and juniper. There are few cars. There are pot holes. The sun clamps down on me, draws sweat from every inch of skin. From the next bend in the road I can see the Golden Gate Bridge, Mt. Tam, the tiny rectangle of a container ship headed out to sea. The road steepens, steadily climbs, I keep pushing and pulling, my legs burn, my hips burn, every thing is taut, contracted, gripped. Involuntary sound escapes from deep in me, something guttural, animal, the last reserves of effort, and finally my tires find level ground and the blessed tip down hill.

There is something very special and also very logical about feeding the body for fuel. We spend so much time thinking and talking about how we look, and the conversations most overheard about food seem to be about what to eat and what not to eat in order to lose weight, whether that's a health based imperative for someone or not. But what about feeding the body so that it can perform? So that it can run and swim and dance and bike and play? On Sunday I will participate in my first triathlon. I have come to realize that one of the things I most love about training is how I come to re-understand my body as an instrument of action, and not as an object. For 12 weeks I have pushed myself, asked my body to perform tasks it has never done before (ie, getting off a bike and immediately going for a run. What?!), and the way I eat has changed. Of course my food must still taste delicious, but what I want to eat is food that will fuel my body, repair my muscles, sustain a long ride, or a run or a swim. Most of us forget that food in the body, at its most basic level, is energy. What do you do with your fuel? When is the last time you recognized your body for all the amazing work it does, all it is capable of doing? Maybe this week, forget about the mirror, put away the scale. Fuel yourself. Go out and play.

A Bowl of Beans

1 cup of dry beans, rinsed and soaked overnight*, less if you don't want leftover beans

water

salt

1 or 2 eggs

1/4 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 a firm but ripe avocado, sliced

1 clove of garlic chopped

a handful of broccoli or kale, chopped

1 T coconut oil

olive oil to taste

*You can make this with canned beans too but I prefer the taste and texture of dried beans. Soaking them overnight will shorten the cooking time and make them easier to digest.

Pour the beans and the soaking water into a pot and add more water so the beans are covered by at least an inch of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until tender. About 30 minutes (might take longer for bigger beans such as kidney beans or white beans).  I recommend testing the beans around 20 minutes and if they are tender but need to cook more, add a good pinch of salt. Salting too early can make the beans shriveled and hard.

Drain the beans in a colander over the sink. Scoop one cup of cooked beans into a bowl. The rest you can use over the coming days in variations on this dish or in other meals.

In a small pan heat the tablespoon of coconut oil over medium-high. Throw in the garlic, broccoli and/or greens and sautee until soft. Add the veggies to your bowl of beans.

Return the pan to the burner. You may need to add a bit more oil. Fry or scramble an egg then place on top of the bean-veg bowl. Add tomatoes and avocado and maybe some fresh herbs and hot sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Favorite Pancakes & Fall Trips

November 1st!!! How did that happen so fast? In the past few weeks I've experienced the splendor of autumn (New England), an early taste of winter (Tahoe), and even a few searing, summer-like days here in Sonoma; a last hurrah before the much needed rain we got this week.

My trips have been a wonderful mix of the nostalgia-stirring and the brand spanking new.

The trip to Maine was a homecoming. Familiar, sentimental in an almost painful way. Even though it was October it smelled like every summer of my whole life: of wet pine, of moss, faintly of smoke and strongly of the sea. It smelled like capture the flag, blood drawn by a barnacle, mildewed rope bracelets, first kiss, first drunk, and lying on the lawn after dinner with my sister and my parents because the stars were too bright and too startlingly milky to ignore. And bed can always wait.

I have been to Tahoe a few times now and feel like I am only just beginning to understand its greatness. On our most recent trip we left Sonoma in the dark, at 6am, when it was already 60 degrees, and made it to Donner Summit by 9am to find thigh high snow, fog over Donner Lake, and that bright mountain sun already glaring against the white- a reminder that you have been thrust several thousand feet towards it in only a couple of hours.

 I have also, in recent weeks, found a favorite pancake recipe. Purists be warned! This is not your standard flapjack. But stay open minded if you are able. My pancake obsessed sweetheart has completely converted from his flour-based pancakes to these gluten-free, energy packed, and truly scrumptious stacks instead. 

Said sweetheart, Pete, is a rock climber, and thus, has chronic joint pain. When its particularly bad we try to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. For those of you new to this idea it basically means eating a mostly raw, plant-based diet, and cutting back on alcohol, meat, dairy, caffeine, sugar and gluten. I know. Even as I type the list I realize it sounds severe. But in reality, when we eat this way, it never feels abstemious. I love to cook (as you know), we both love to eat (those of you who know us can attest), and we want our food to taste good even when consuming with the specific intent to heal the body, or even fuel it.

After making this pancake recipe once I decided to make a quadruple batch of the dry ingredients to have the mix on hand all the time. I have since gone from being a once-every-couple-of-months pancake eater to a bi-weekly pancake eater. Very happily and healthily so.

The Pancakes

adapted from Sprouted Kitchen

1/3 cup almond meal *

1/3 cup oat flour **

1/3 cup quinoa flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

2 T sugar

pinch of fine grain salt

1 egg

1 cup almond milk (or milk or buttermilk)

coconut oil or butter for cooking

1 t vanilla (optional)

*You can make your own almond meal by grinding whole or slivered raw almonds in a food processor until very fine.

**You can make your own oat flour by grinding whole organic oats in a food processor until very fine.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. 

In a small bowl lightly beat the egg, then add the cup of almond milk and the vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. 

In a cast iron or heavy bottomed pan, melt the coconut oil or butter over medium heat.  When the pan is ready add about 1/4 cup of the batter and repeat as desired without overcrowding. Personally, I like to limit it to 2 pancakes at a time so they are easy to flip.

When bubbles form on the top of the pancake, flip and cook another minute or so. When making larger batches for a crowd I pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees and keep the finished pancakes warming on a plate so everyone can eat at once. 

The options for toppings are endless. As documented in the photo above, I mixed some Maine maple syrup with whole milk yogurt and topped my pancakes with that and fresh figs picked from a tree up the street. We have also eaten them with homemade apple syrup from a friend. They are great with just a slab of high quality salted butter melted on top, or a scoop of your favorite nut butter if you are looking for enduring energy.

How do you like to eat them? Please let me know!

The Sleeping Giant: Zucchini Trilogy Part 2

Okay, I am going a little out of order here. I planned to take you on a zucchini filled journey, sequentially from the babiest to the biggest. But last week, in the heat wave, I missed my window for mid-sized harvesting and was left with the big guys, the baseball bats, the sleeping giants.

There isn't anything wrong with a giant zucchini. They are still nutritious and if anything the flavor gets even milder. The challenge with the bigger fruit is coming up with a way to deal with the change in texture. As the zucchini grows the flesh becomes pithy (not concise so much as abundant-in-pith). It acts as a sponge if you throw it in a sautee pan making the resulting meal too soggy and it is too dry and chewy to enjoy raw. The solution? Shred and bake. I love traditional zucchini bread, in the same sweet breakfast style as a banana bread. But in the name of exploration and experimentation I chose a zucchini corn bread this time around. It flirts with both the sweet and the savory and has enough heft from the cornmeal to stand up to soup dunking or as a side for a lobster bake.

I cut into the zucchini and discard the seeds before shredding the flesh. 

You can grate the zucchini with a cheese grater, or, to make faster work of it, use the grating blade of a food processor.

To make my bread I used a combination of fresh grated and frozen grated zucchini. If you use frozen grated you will need to squeeze a lot of water out of the vegetable before adding it to any baked good.

 First, I use my hand to press the zucchini against the side of the sieve, removing the easily expelled water.

For round two of water removal I place the mushy mound of zucchini in the center of a clean, strong dish towel, fold the corners up, and twist and squeeze until all the water has drained through the cloth.

If you use all fresh grated zucchini you won't need to squeeze any water out. We ate our bread with Vermont Creamery cultured butter. I all but insist you do the same.

Brown Butter Zucchini Corn Bread

adapted from Epicurious

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter plus some for the bread pan

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk & it was still delicious)

1 t vanilla extract

10 oz of shredded zucchini 

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 cup sugar

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1 t fine sea salt

3/4 cup medium grind cornmeal

1 t cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger (or 1 t of each)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x5x3 loaf pan.

In a small sauce pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Remove from heat when the solids at the bottom of the pan have turned golden brown but not burned (3-4 minutes). Scrape the butter and solids into a bowl and set aside to cool. Once cool, whisk in eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Add the shredded zucchini to the butter mixture and stir until well mixed.

Sift the flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices into a large bowl and whisk in cornmeal. Add the zucchini mixture and fold until just mixed. It should be very thick. Transfer the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and even out the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake until the bread is a golden color and a toothpick or tester inserted in the center comes out completely clean. Mine took about 50 minutes, and if your oven is like mine, you may want to turn your bread pan mid-way through to evenly cook.

Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the bread and let it cool completely on a wire rack. (or cut it open and slather it with butter like we did!)

Almond-Apricot Granola (featuring the wonderous noyaux!)

I've become an obsessive granola maker. I've never been one for a daily eggy breakfast.  (That said, my Friday morning yoga class taught by Heather Murray followed by veggie eggs benedict at Cafe This Way is a much missed part of my life now that I am in California.) But I digress. As a child my mom had to fight me to put something in my belly before school. I wasn't ever hungry in the morning but she insisted. "Brain food" she called it. Finally, in my early 20s, I realized how important a meal breakfast is. It's like fueling your car. It jump starts your metabolism. It does wake your brain up. And what you choose for your first meal can really shape your food choices for the remainder of the day. Personally, I am drawn to grains in the morning, but find store bought cereals to be lacking in flavor, nutritional value, and staying power. And while I love oatmeal, I don't always have the time or inclination to start my day at the stove. I want something easy, delicious, and energy packed in the morning.

Granola is such a great food in part for its adaptability. It can be made raw with a dehydrator, slow baked or not so slow baked, with fruit or without, with many different grains or with plain old every day oats. You can vary the fats and sweeteners you use and combine any number of nuts, seeds, and natural nutritional boosters. I guarantee, no matter what combination you choose, your home made granola is bound to be more nutritionally valuable and far more delicious than nearly any cereal you can buy in a store.

As you know from my last post, I have been on a big stone fruit kick. While reading about the origins and benefits of apricots I discovered that the kernel inside the pit of the apricot--the noyaux--has culinary benefits as well.

The noyaux is an almond-shaped kernel encased in the apricot pit. I saved my apricot pits after making these and stored them in a ziploc in the freezer so I can use them over the coming weeks and months. To get at the noyaux I used the flat side of a large cleaver, but a mortar and pestle would work, as would a hammer or a good size rock. It is from this small kernel--not the nut for which the two are named-- that amaretto and almond extract are made. You can steep the noyaux in cream for a sweet almond scent, or place it on top of halved apricots before baking or poaching them. I added mine to an almond granola to accentuate the nuttiness.  Overall, I can't say that it added TONS of extra almond-ness, but every once in a while I would get a bite with a piece of noyaux and a piece of oven-toasted almond, and, let me tell you, it was almond to the nth degree. 

The noyaux contains a nitriloside, (mimicked in a synthetic form it is referred to as B17) which is claimed to have anti-cancerous and fat-flushing properties.  The little kernel also contains traces of cyanide, so you don't want to eat handfuls of them raw. Cooking the kernel will get rid of any cyanide traces. If you are nervous about it, enjoy the noyaux as we should most good things; in moderation. 

Almond-Apricot Granola
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1.5 cups raw almonds, roughly chopped
4 noyaux, chopped
4 T raw virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup raw light agave or honey
1/4 cup chia seeds
pinch of salt
spices of choice (eg, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine the oats,almonds, noyaux, salt, and any other desired spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, etc). 

In a small saucepan heat the coconut oil and sweetener over low heat until the coconut oil melts. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. I usually taste a small bite at this point to check that the salt and spice levels are where I want them.

Pour the mix in an even layer onto a un greased cookie sheet. If you want to shorten the cooking time a bit you can split the batch between two trays.

Cook for fifteen minutes then stir. Cook another 30-45 minutes, stirring every ten minutes so the granola browns evenly. I like my granola to get pretty toasty and crunchy. This is definitely a personal preference. The granola is "done" whenever it is your desired level of toastiness. 

Let the granola cool, then return it to the large mixing bowl. Stir in the apricots, chia seeds and any other raw nutritional boosters (hemp seed, flax seed, etc)

I like to eat my granola with fresh fruit and either goat yogurt or homemade almond milk. It is also delicious sprinkled on top of a simple salad of spinach or spicy greens tossed with vinaigrette.

Other ideas for oils, sweeteners, grains & add-ins

*olive oil & maple syrup with cayenne pepper for a warming, winter morning granola

*replace some or all of the oats with quinoa or amaranth flakes for a gluten free, high protein cereal

*add a splash of rosewater to the mix before baking

*use hemp seeds, flax seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds or all of the above for added nutritional boost

*heat your milk or nut milk or coconut milk before pouring it over your granola

*grapefruit zest & thyme for a anti-oxidant and C packed granola

Sources:
http://blog.goodeggs.com/post/24415957107/all-about-apricots-5-essentials-to-know
http://campaignfortruth.com/Eclub/230204/CTM%20-%20nitrilosides.htm
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=3