getting dirty, plus ribs

I just had to share this photo that Nate Marsh took. The ribs were from
LLano Seco Ranch in Chico, CA, and I baked and grilled them with
homemade barbeque sauce. It was a killer meal.

Barbeque sauce:

water an inch or so up the side of the saucepan
1" cube dried tamarind pulp
1 peach or nectarine, cut into chunks
1/4 t fenugreek
1/4 t anise or fennel seed
1/4 t coriander
a few sprigs of fresh or dried basil
1 or 2 T olive oil

to taste:
sugar, agave or honey
apple cider vinegar
salt

boil everything until the sauce is thick and tasty. pour through a fine-mesh
strainer and stir the pulp until most of the liquid has come out. discard pulp,
and brush the barbeque sauce on whatever you are cooking right before it hits
the grill!

put em up!

Another flat of bruised tomatoes got me thinking about how wonderful it is to deal with food as it starts to go bad. I must admit, it has always been a dream of mine to live in a house with an endless supply of jars, and now I do! If you have some produce that's starting to turn, deal with it! From left to right: juice ladelled from the tomato sauce, tomato sauce, pesto, pluot butter, and juice from the pluot butter. If you don't want to can it, freeze it, and if you don't want to eat it, give it to a friend!



(First one to request it gets a quart of tomato juice!)

from the archives

The view from work of the Calder getting packed up for storage:


The Blue Bottle training lab: all the coffee makers you can imagine,
and then some.


Breakfast at the MoMA:


And my ride, post farmers market:

your extra lemons...

...can look like this!


Lemon curd is superbly easy to make, and extremely tasty. I had forgotten
about it since last summer, when we seemed to make some at least once a
week.

Zest from 1 lemon
Juice from as many lemons as you have lying around (I used 4)
eggs (do you have lots of eggs? separate them and use about 5 egg yolks. if you
only have a few eggs, just use the whole thing. I used 3 whole eggs)
1 c sugar or some combination of honey and agave
pinch of salt

combine all of these in a metal bowl, and set it on top of a pot of boiling water
(double boiler style). whisk constantly until the mixture thickens (it'll be
obvious and will coat your whisk). Remove from heat and stir in 1 stick butter,
chopped into pieces. Once they melt, you can blend and strain your curd, or
just refrigerate it as is. I poured mine into this prepared tart crust (blended
macadamia nuts, tapioca and brown rice flours with olive oil and agave, baked
and covered in a layer of chocolate) to set in the fridge.

let set for 2 hours or more.

enjoy!

market spoils

After my shopping rounds at last night's Castro farmers market, my pile
of food was rather daunting: four bags of greens and a bag of fruit waiting
to be loaded onto my bike before the ride up the hill. But along came Donka
of Happy Boy Farms with a whole beautiful flat of bruised heirloom tomatoes!
There were some in every color, from bright green to watermelon red to yellow
with orange streaks-how could I say no? So I tied the box to my cargo rack,
trying not to squish anything in my overstuffed panniers, stuck a bunch of
sunflowers through the bungee (for kicks), and biked home, Really... Slowly...

There will be tomato sauce galore in my freezer soon. Let me know if you'd
like a tub. (ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, shallots, oregano, cinnamon basil,
summer savory, rosemary, salt, walnut oil)


And sure enough, time keeps passing without my noticing, and it's apple
season again! I made off with 5 pounds of the season's first Gravensteins
from Sebastapol. Summer pie time just took a turn for the better!



And don't forget to check out BREAD SRSLY to sign up for your first loaf!

cornbread for a change

Since summer pies have felt anything but seasonal here in chilly San
Francisco, I whipped up a loaf of fresh corn and bell pepper cornbread to
keep me warm at this evening's farmers market. It's quite similar to the
cornbread muffin recipe from earlier in the year, but a little more refined
and a little more delicious. Eat warm if you can. Also, this cornbread will
melt in your mouth, but crumble on your cutting board, so slice with a
very sharp knife.

Gluten Free Cornbread Loaf

3/4 c tapioca starch
1/4 c sweet white rice flour
3/4 c cornmeal (I used Oaxacan Green cornmeal from Tierra Vegetables)
3/4 t xanthan gum
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt

mix these together thouroughly and add:

1/2 c lard

use your fingers to mix together until mixture is coarse and evenly
distributed.

Add:

1/2 c yogurt
1/2 c buttermilk
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c chopped green bell pepper
1/4 c chopped or grated cheese of your choice
1/4 c fresh corn, cooked and sliced off the cob

Bake at 350 in an oiled loaf pan for at least an hour. Let cool slightly
before turning onto a cutting board. To slice, score top crust with a
serrated bread knife, and cut through with your sharpest (not serrated)
blade. Eat warm.

Chocolate chip quinoa cookies

Well the pie trials are in full force as the summer fruit bowl stays full. This
week featured a blueberry pie (with a quart of blueberries!). It had a
buttermilk biscuit crust which held its shape beautifully when the pie was
sliced. The crust looked like it was incredible right out of the oven, but
when it cooled it got a little tough, so more pies are coming, and someday
I'll get my crust recipe!

The pie still looked beautiful and cute, served with fresh green figs from
Hamada Farm and watermelon ices from Happy Boy Farms.




On a more successful note, these cookies just came out of the oven, and they are divine. Not too sweet, full of food, with a kick from the chocolate chips and decaf coffee beans!

Gluten Free and Vegan Quinoa Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 (or 325 if it runs hot)

Mix together:

1 c quinoa flakes (or sub oats)
1/2 c garbanzo fava bean flour
1/2 c brown rice flour
3/4 c tapioca starch
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t xanthan gum
1 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon

In a separate bowl, combine:

1/2 c coconut sugar (or sub regular or brown sugar)
1/4 c flax seed meal
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c honey (sub agave or maple syrup)
1/2 c tahini (sub peanut butter)
2 t vanilla extract
1/4 c warm water

Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry. Stir in:

3/4 c chocolate chips
1/4 c very coarsely ground coffee (I used decaf)
1/4 c sunflower seeds

Roll 2 T dough into spheres and press flat on a baking sheet. Bake for 15
minutes. The cookies will not look done, but allow to cool and they will
be perfect. Enjoy thoroughly.

There's still time for pie

With all of the fruit I bruise on the trek home from Sunday's market, I'd
be hard pressed not to be in pie mode. But being in pie mode is all about
the crust! Which means butter, cold dough, and quick quick working time.
I'm still working on a flaky pastry dough, but I think I'm getting close. The
recipe will be posted when I get it right!


For now, enjoy a picture of Jesse eyeing the pie.


Also, hop on over to the bread blog to see some progress with the teff loaves!