Balsamic-Glazed Carrots with Garlic, and Sauteed Kale with Raisins and Walnuts

Balsamic-Glazed Carrots with Garlic (Bittman p. 277)

• carrots, balsamic vinegar, whole garlic cloves,

Sauteed Kale with Raisins and Walnuts (recipe here)

• Kale, raisins, walnuts, balsamic vinegar

The kale was delicious. Best kale recipe yet. Even with thorough cooking, kale retains a bit of tough and bitter, though of course a rich green flavor. Raisins- soft and sweet- really balance it out. And toasted walnuts are yum.

Probably used too wide a pan for carrots, leaving them unsubmerged, so cooking time to tenderness much longer than expected, leading to longer soaking time. Perhaps even too balsamicky, as a result, if such a thing is possible, which it is. But very tasty nonetheless.

Did some sauteed tofu for protein. Same old way.

Often tofu doesn't quite fill me up. I ended up eating a whole bag of popcorn. Substantial, that.

Also, here's a picture of a turtle and a shark from our trip to the aquarium today.

Catfish Fillets, Roasted with Potatoes, and Also Some Eggplant

The fishmonger offered to blacken our catfish, and we were too green to say no. Resulting in catfish fillets too brown to look good next to potatoes.
The recipe in Bittman (p. 593)

• catfish fillets, red potatoes, olive oil, s+p, parsley garnish

The idea was for whitefish, a mild flavor with the heavier potatoes. But instead, the heavy peppery blackened flavor encroached on everything. No contrast in color or flavor between fish and taters. Spicy tasty, though.

Also, roasting at 450 rather than broiling- as we've mostly done with whitefish- kept the thinner parts of the fillet from getting tough while the thicker parts cooked.

The next day, the blackened catfish made a great but simple sandwich, spice softened by whole wheat bread, mayo and csa lettuce.

In the meantime, though, we had our csa eggplants sitting around. Beccer, fearing bitterness brought on by agedness, interpreted salting "liberally" in the sense of providing a safety net for the poor, and made the broiled eggplant a salty, shriveled mess, unable to pull itself up by its bootstraps. I figure I'll put them in tomato sauce or somewhere else that can hide our failure.

Bad job for us all around, except for the sandwiches.

Recipes from a volunteer at Muir Woods

Curried Carrot Soup

• 4 Tbs butter
• 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 2 lb carrots, washed, scrapped and cut into 1/2 in pieces
• 1/2 cup sherry
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• rind and juice of 1 orange
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 2-4 Tbs chopped parsley
• salt and pepper

Melt 2 Tbs butter in a large pot, add the ginger and curry and cook over medium-low heat for a minute or two, allowing the flavor of the curry to develop. Add the carrots and a pinch of salt, let the carrots sweat 4-5 min on very low heat. Add the sherry, lemon juice, orange rind and juice, stock and salt, and cook another 10-15 min.

When the carrots are tender, puree in a blender, correct their seasoning and return to the heat. When the dish is finished, toss in dots of butter, lots of parsley, season with a grinding of black pepper and serve.

Curried Cauliflower Soup

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 Tbs sugar
• 4 tsp curry powder
• 8 cups cauliflower florets (from one large head), chopped
• 10 oz Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, diced into 1/2" cubes (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 7 cups chicken broth
• plain yogurt
• chopped fresh mint

Heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, stirring often, about 5 min. Add sugar and curry powder; stir 1 min. Add cauliflower and potatoes; stir one min. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 35 min. Working in batches, puree soup in blender. Return soup to same pot and bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls; top with yogurt and some mint.

Zucchini Chips?

I found this recipe written on a loose leaf piece of paper in an old cookbook. I don't know if it works or if it is any good!

Heat oven to 475 degrees. Grease a baking sheet. Cut the zucchini into 1/4" slices. Cook them for 5 min, then flip and cook for 5-10 min on the other side.

Recipes and Tips from the American Dairy Goat Association

Tips:

• Use fresh goat milk in place of light cream in soups and sauces and improve texture by using it in breads and cakes.
• Use fresh goat milk yogurt in place of sour cream in salad dressings, sauces and dips. The texture is light and creamy with fewer calories.
• Remember that these soft cheeses are delicate and become more liquid as they are beaten or heated, so don't overprocess them.

Raita:
Raita is traditionally served as a cooling compliment to the spiciness of Indian curries.

• 2 cups plain goat milk yogurt
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 or more garlic cloves, pressed
• dash of cayenne, to taste

Stir the yogurt in a bowl. Peel, seed, and coarsely grate the cucumbers. Add the cumin, garlic and cayenne. Stir and chill.

Chive & Goat Cheese Puffs:
The dough for these delectable and savory pastries can be made hours ahead and refrigerated.

• 7 Tbsp butter, cut up
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• 4 eggs
• 4 oz soft, fresh goat cheese
• 2 tsp fresh chives, chopped

Put butter and water in saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and stir in flour, salt and cayenne with a wooden spoon. Leave on low heat for about 8 min or until butter coats the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and put mixture into food processor with eggs and goat cheese. Pulse until blended. Chill. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll small balls of the dough and bake for 30 to 35 min on a greased cookie sheet. Serve immediately or cool, split and stuff with crab or chicken salad.

Fettucine Casserole

• 1 lb fettucine or egg noodles
• 4 Tbsp butter or 1/4 cup olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 Tbsp chives
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley (1 Tbsp dried parsley)
• 1 cup goat milk
• 8 oz soft fresh goat cheese or 15 oz goat milk ricotta
• 3/4 cup dry, aged goat cheese (Romano or Parmesan) grated
• Optional: sauteed mushrooms and peas

Cook fettucine al dente. Melt butter or oil over low heat, add garlic, chives and parsley. Saute two minutes. Heat goat milk in a saucepan over low heat and stir in soft goat cheese until it is dissolved. Do not boil! When hot, add the butter, chives and parsley mixture, the drained noodles, 1/2 cup of the grated cheese and any optional ingredients. Toss well and place in oiled casserole dish. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 min. Uncover, top with the remaining grated cheese and bake another 15 min or until top is golden. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Goat Milk Fudge

• 2 1 oz squares unsweetened chocolate (you may substitute 1/3 cup cocoa and 3 Tbsp butter)
• 3/4 cup fresh goat milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp light corn syrup
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate in milk. Add sugar and corn syrup; cook slowly, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Cook gently to softball stage (234 degrees), stirring frequently. Remove from heat; add butter and cool at room temp until lukewarm (110 degrees) without stirring. Add vanilla; beat vigorously until fudge becomes very thick and loses its gloss. Quickly spread in buttered pan. When firm, cut into squares. Makes about 2 dozen pieces.

Blue Ribbon Cheesecake:
Wonderful topped with fresh fruits of the season

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups graham crackers, crushed
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp flour

Combine and press firmly into bottom of 9 inch springform pan

Filling:

• 16 oz soft fresh goat cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 lemon, juice and zest

Blend until smooth and creamy. Pour on top of crust and bake at 375 degrees for 25 min or until set. Cool.

Topping:

• 2 cups sour cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Blend and pour on top of cooled filling. Bake at 375 degrees for 5 to 8 min. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours before slicing. Garnish with fresh fruit.

Ginger Ale, take one

Update: First homemade ginger ale tasting! Strong, good kick in the aftertaste. Spicy. Not heavily carbonated. Slight yeast aroma, though.

Only allowed fermentation for about 9 hours, rather than the expected 24-48. After letting out some pressure after 7.5 hours, the bottle promptly grew reinforcements, requiring another expulsion only 2 hours later. Decided to refrigerate overnight rather than risk bathtub explosion.

Perhaps next time: less yeast, (perhaps 1/8 instead of 1/4 tsp). lemon juice.

- - - -
First time making my own ginger ale. Why? Because.

The recipe called for 1.5 to 2 tbsp of fresh grated ginger. I used probably 2.5. I likes my ginger.

I used Fleishman's active dry yeast. Regular old domino sugar. Tap water. Skipped the lemon juice.

Recipe says it's done when, after 24-48 hours at room temp, the bottle no longer dents upon squeezing. Prof. warns that explosion is a real risk, so don't leave it out too long.

Mine was too hard to dent after 7, maybe 7 and a half hours.

Not sure why, obviously, as I don't understand how stuff works in general, nor this in particular.

I gently opened the bottle and let out some pressure, per a comment on Altong Brown's ginger ale recipe. Definite soda fizzing noise. Hopefully it won't explode overnight. It's spending the night in the bathtub, though.

Why I'm Making My Own Ginger Ale

The story is that despite the wonderful food at Kripalu, Rebecca got sick after lunch. I ran down to the store to get her some ginger ale to settle her stomach. Being a hippie yoga place, they only had fancy organic ginger ale. Blue Sky, if you're into the whole branding thing.

It was the most delicious thing. Ever. even more so than hyperbole. The ginger flavor was so strong; "mainstream" ginger ales were just water someone had accidentally spilled some ginger-like substance in.

Back home, I looked everywhere for Blue Sky. Nobody had it. Even Fairway, though I bought about 5 other brands there. Some of it was pretty good. Natural brew outrageous ginger ale was the best, better than Reeds and the other stuff I don't remember.

I wrote the Blue Sky website, even, which is uncharacteristic given the precedent of not getting around to paying bills or registering for classes, to find out where I could get it. The Park Slope Food Coop has the Blue Sky, but I'm not a member. No soup for me.

Needing an alternative, I googled 'how to make your own ginger ale', and this guy came up. What with being a chemistry prof, providing detailed step-by-step instructions for making ginger ale, cheese, and for skinning and butchering a deer, he even seems cooler than Food Network's Alton Brown, who also seems to have a neat ginger ale recipe.

The prof. repeatedly warns of explosions, which makes the project seem fun and sciencey. So I've gone from not really drinking soda to kinda liking ginger ale sometimes to blowing up my home in order to make some myself. I guess I can thank Blue Sky, and it's lack of availability.

Lamb Curry on Rice and Sauteed Kale with Yogurt

Lamb curry- p. 775 Bittman

• lamb, onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cayenne pepper, chicken stock, yogurt, cilantro garnish

Kale with Yogurt- p. 309

• kale, garlic, chicken stock, lemon juice, yogurt
  

Tips from the Kripalu Chef

Deglazing a pan: Put more liquid into the pan to get off stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan

Tinkyada - a brand of brown rice pasta

Cookware:

• Kitchen Aid Knife - $12 - Santoku - good weight knife
• Heat proof spatula
• Wok with wok ring underneath
• Chef used two wooden spoons with the wok
• 3-in-1 food processor
• Immersion blender

Tip for cutting herbs - cut while still rubber banded together. Only cut from the leafy part. Cut off as much as you need and put the rest in the fridge.

How to Dry Tofu (takes approx 30 min):

• lay towel down, keep tofu in container. Cut out top, put tofu in container on towel upside down, put heavy stuff on top.

Or:

• Cut tofu into thin pieces along the equator. Lay towel down on flat baking sheet. Put tofu on towel, lay another towel on top. Place another baking sheet on top. Place whole contraption at an angle from the counter and put something heavy on top.
  

Pad Thai Noodles Recipe from Kripalu

We saw the Kripalu chef cook this as a demonstration. It was like a cooking show not on tv, the upside of which was that we ate the result.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz "rice stick" noodles
• 1 cup carrot, small matchstick
• 2 cup broccoli florets
• 2 Tbs tamarind paste or 1 Tbs of tamarind concentrate mixed with 2 Tbs of hot water (pour through a strainer if the pulp contains seeds)
• 2 tsp ginger root, minced
• 2 Tbs chopped shallots
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup scallion or chives
• 2 Tbs of peanut oil
• 1 cup bean sprouts (can use watercress instead)
• 2 medium eggs
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely broken up
• 1/2-1 cup "Extra Firm" tofu diced (1/2" cubes) - marinated in 1 tsp of tamari or simple soy sauce for approx. ten minutes (if want to use as snack, marinate in simple soy, then bake at 350 degrees for 45 min)
• 2-4 Tbs agave nectar (traditionally regular sugar or palm sugar are used)
• 1 lime

Optional:

• 1 or 2 chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup dried shrimp or 1/2 lb fresh cooked shrimp
• 3 Tbs fish sauce
• Ground pepper or hot sauce to taste

1. Soak the noodles in warm water for 20 min or boiling water for 10
2. Heat the oil on medium in a wok or large saute pan and add the garlic, ginger and shallot and briefly stir fry until they show signs of changing color
3. At this point add the carrots, broccoli, and marinated tofu and stir fry covered for 5 min. One option is to add the dried shrimp and or chicken and cook a bit longer
4. Add the noddles, tamarind, pepper and agave nectar. Another option is to add fish sauce.
5. Stir fry until the noodles soften (about 5 min). The noodles should be flexible but not expanded at this point. Drain the noodles and add to the wok. Stir quickly to keep things from sticking. Add a little water if necessary. The heat should remain high. If your pan is not hot enough, you will see a lot of juice in the pan at this point. Turn up the heat if this is the case.
6. Make a well in the center of the pan and quickly scramble the egg, slowly adding the Pad Thai from the sides of the pan (can also scramble the eggs separately or omit). Make room for the egg by pushing all noodles to the side of the wok.
7. Add the bean sprouts, chives and peanuts and cook for no more than another 30 sec.
8. Remove from the pan to a serving platter.
9. Squeeze 1/2 the lime over the top and serve the other half quartered on the side.

Tips:

• The trickiest part is the soaked noodles. Noodles should be somewhat flexible and solid, not expanded and soft. When in doubt, under soak. You can always add more water in the pan, but you can't take it out.
• All animal products can be substituted or omitted
• Substitute the same amount of vinegar for the tamarind, still adding some flavor and acidity
• In Thailand, condiments such as sugar, chili pepper, vinegar, fish sauce, scallions, and cilantro are available at your table for your personal taste. Or you may try this traditional garnish -
  

Optional garnish:
Mix a Tbs of lime juice with a Tbs of tamarind juice and a Tbs of fish sauce, and use this to marinade half a cup of uncooked bean sprouts, half a cup of chopped chives, and half a cup of very coarsely ground roasted peanuts. Sprinkle this mixture on the cooked Pad Thai. Cilantro leaves also make a nice garnish.

Peanut Sauce
Makes 2 cups

• 1/4 onion minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 Tbs minced ginger
• 1 tsp dried chili (optional)
• 2 Tbs sesame oil (or peanut oil)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 Tbs tamari
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• 2 Tbs agave (optional)
• use fish sauce or tamarind paste to jazz it up (optional)
  

Saute onions, garlic, ginger and chili in sesame oil. Blend remaining ingredients. Add sauted ingredients to the blender and blend all together.

Simple Soy Sauce
Yield: 2 cups
Use as a quick marinade, saute sauce, or for dipping

• 1 cup tamari or shoyu
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tsp ginger and/or garlic- minced (optional)
• 1/2 - 1 cup more water for use as a longer marinade - i.e. overnight (optional)
• 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
• 1 tbsp or more sweetener (maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, sugar, sucanat, etc.) - (optional)

Mix or blend all ingredients together and serve

Explaining Jokes

The title of this blog derives from a line from "30 Rock".

Liz Lemon, played by Tina Fey, says "Nice to have some positive reinforcement, isn't it?"

Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin, retorts "Well, it's only positive reinforcement when they say it to you. In my case they're just stating the facts. I do look like the Arrow shirt man, I did lace up my skates professionally and I did do a fabulous job finishing my muffin."

I had originally suggested "Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag" for the blog title, from Moe the Bartender's failed attempt to turn his bar into a casual dining chain restaurant.

Rebecca's choice was - and remains- better than mine.

Gonna make ginger ale

Bought some yeast. and a 2 liter soda bottle. Gonna pour out the storebought stuff. Put in some homemade hopefully don't explode ginger ale.