strawberry fields forever...

strawberries are one of my favorite fruits. so, even if you haven't noticed, i did in a big way when they started to become available at the farmers' market about 3 weeks ago. one of the best things about my strawberry lovin' is kevin isn't really a big fan of them, so i get to eat pretty much every single one that i can get my grubby little paws on.

this last weekend, the line at the strawberry stand to buy a single pint was so freakin' long you would have thought the farm was giving something away (these people realized they had to PAY for those, right?). i noticed the line to buy whole cartons of strawberries (3 pints) was pretty much nonexistent, so i did what anyone who hates lines but loves strawberries would do. i bought a whole carton. i was in and out in about 30 seconds. [contented *sigh*]

now, i don't know how familiar you are with strawberries, but 3 pints is a *lot* for one person to eat all by herself. and they don't keep very well for very long, so i was in a major quandary. what the fudge was i going to do with all of them strawberries? that's when i had a rare stroke of brilliance and realized i could puree a bunch of them and make a strawberry champagne vinaigrette for the salad at our passover seder that night. i decided then to switch up my plan and make a very simple mixed green salad with chunks of pink lady apples and crumbled buttermilk blue cheese with the strawberry champagne vinaigrette.

there's a stand at the farmers' market that sells all sorts of greens (endives, radicchio, dandelion, stinging nettles, spinach, fava greens, etc. etc.) so i walked over to it like i had a purpose (which i did), elbowed a little old lady out of my way, and filled to the brim an entire produce bag with mesclun. ...ok so maybe i'm exaggerating a little... i didn't *actually* fill the produce bag all the way to the very top. i left enough room so i could tie it shut. sheesh, you guys know me tooooo well. can't get away with anything. (hunh? what about the little old lady?)

so a slight tangent before i post the strawberry champagne vinaigrette recipe: ever since i decided to eat as little food as possible that contains chemicals and/or corn derivatives (used as preservatives and artificial flavorings), i take the time to actually read the food labels before i buy anything. things like xantham gum, citric acid, maltodextrin, and high-fructose corn syrup are examples of corn products used to stabilize, flavor, and preserve processed foods (for a more comprehensive list, you can look here). xantham gum seems to be in EVERYTHING, btw. crazy, who knew.

anyway, if you start to read ingredient labels, you'll probably feel as though you've been sucked back in time to chem lab (to some of you, this may be a nostalgic, pleasant memory. not for mwah, however. ;) seriously, you'll be surprised to see how prevalent these corn derivatives are in anything you buy from the shelf of a supermarket. most stuff in a safeway is now ineligible for entry into the house of froon b/c of these substances. to be honest, even the crunchy-granola vegetarian grocery co-op i go to has a lot of food that i won't eat.

anyway, what's the long-winded point i'm trying to make tonight? well, what i'm getting at is that if you look at the ingredients in a bottle of salad dressing, almost all of them are corn derivatives. even "organic" dressings like annie's contain this stuff. so, i've pretty much been forced to make my own from scratch. the good news is that they're very easy to make, easily modifiable to suit the ingredients you have on hand or the # of servings you need to make. as you'll now see. :)


Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette

1 pint hulled strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup sugar (if necessary, I left it out, the strawberries were so perfect)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup good-quality extra virgin olive oil (I like Stonehouse)

Combine first four ingredients and puree either in a blender or using a stick blender. Slowly blend in olive oil until emulsified. Chill, covered, if not using immediately. Makes enough dressing to serve 10-12 people.


Mixed Green Salad

8 cups mesclun salad mix, rinsed and spun dry
1 large Pink Lady apple, cored and cut into chunks (you can use Granny Smith if you can't find any Pink Ladies ...i'm pretty sure there's a joke in there somewhere...)
1 cup crumbled buttermilk blue cheese
1 cup cinnamon almonds
Strawberry champagne vinaigrette

Place all ingredients into a HUGE bowl. Toss to coat evenly. Plate and serve immediately. Serves 10.

is this burning an eternal flame?

i used my slow cooker to make tonight's dinner, which was indian vegetable curry with brown basmati rice.

i may have mentioned in an earlier post that i'm in love my slow cooker... well, i'm *still* in luv with him. ooops, i mean "it." IT, not him! haha, wow, that was a funny freudian slip, hunh?

well so what if i do love my slow cooker? what's NOT to love? you stick a bunch of ingredients in it in the morning, push its buttons (!!), and when you come back from a hard day's work of bringin' home the bacon, it's waiting for you with a piping hot dinner of goodness. AND, it's never upset with you if you come home later than you told it that morning.

yeah, mhmm, that's what i THOUGHT: you're thinking to yourself that not many *people* would even do that for you. aren't you? AREN'T YOU!!!

anyhoo, while you try to come up with a (pitiful) excuse as to why you, too, do not own a totally amazing slow cooker, i'll leave you with tonight's dinner recipe. enjoy!


Indian Vegetable Curry with Brown Basmati Rice

Curry
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/2" pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 tsps yellow curry powder
1 1/2 tsps salt, plus more to taste
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed and chopped
2 tbsps chopped fresh cilantro (or not...yuck!)

Rice
1 cup brown basmati rice
2 cups water or stock

Curry
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and saute garlic and onions until onions begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Add curry powder and salt, and saute for another minute. Deglaze pan with vegetable stock, making sure to scrape any browned bits from bottom of pan. Once mixture comes to a boil, remove pan from heat. Place potatoes, cauliflower, and green beans in slow cooker and then pour onion mixture over vegetables. Cover and cook for either 4 hours on high heat or 8 hours on low. If necessary, season to taste with salt.

Rice
Rinse rice a few times in cold water. In a medium saucepan, add rice and water (or stock) and bring to a boil. Cover and then simmer for about 40 minutes, or until water is completely absorbed.

Serve curry over rice and sprinkle with cilantro. Serves 4.

can you spare a square?!

apparently, there's a matzoh shortage in the entire bay area! you can check out the (very brief) story here.

while it didn't help that trader joe's and costco both didn't carry matzoh this year, supposedly, the largest supplier of matzoh (hello, manischewitz) pulled a move that's reminiscent of apple computer (back in the day): it decided to heavy up on some new equipment that led to...well, *engineering delays* so they couldn't make enough matzoh for passover.

kevin and i spent some time on sunday driving to a couple stores, and then wising up and calling around for matzoh. that's when the dude at mollie stone's told me that there was no matzoh to be had in all of san francisco (me: "are you serious?!" mollie stone's dude: "as serious as a heart attack!").

so, if any of you have any "squares to spare" please let me know - kevin is running out of matzoh - he only has one square left!!!

in the meanwhile, here's the brisket recipe (you need to start it the night before) that i use every year for our seders. this time, i used grass-raised meat from marin sun farms served with potato latkes, and honey-glazed baby carrots, sugar snap peas, and roasted asparagus as sides. (i'm getting a little better at this "seasonal cooking" thing, fo' shizzle) yummy!


Passover Brisket
6 lbs beef brisket
4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
4-5 lbs yellow onions, chopped into 1" pieces
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsps Hungarian paprika
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1 tsp ground pepper, plus more to taste

Preheat oven to 375°F. Rinse and pat brisket dry. Season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsps olive oil in a Dutch oven for about 10 minutes. Roast brisket in pan, uncovered, 30 minutes, turning over halfway through.

Meanwhile, using a very large skillet (or use 2 normal ones if you can't fit all the onions in one pan), heat remaining 2 tbsps olive oil over medium-high heat and cook onions until they start to caramelize (about 10 minutes). Reduce heat to medium-low / low and continue cooking onions until they turn deep golden, stirring occasionally (about 20 minutes). Stir in garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper and cook 1 minute, then stir in 3 cups water and bring to a boil.

Spoon onion mixture over brisket and bake, covered, with lid slightly cracked, 4 hours, or until brisket is tender. Check every hour and add more water if necessary to keep meat covered. Remove from oven and let brisket cool in cooking liquid for 1 hour, then remove from pan and wrap in foil overnight. Pour onion gravy into a bowl and chill, covered, overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350°F. Spoon off fat from onion gravy, add enough water to measure 3 1/2 cups total, and using a stick blender, blend gravy until smooth; add salt and pepper to taste. Slice brisket against the grain (break out the meat slicer if you have one!) and place slices (slightly overlapped) in a large baking dish. Pour gravy over brisket, heat in oven for 30 minutes, or until hot. Serves 8-10.