What is that

What if this were the iconic breakfast of some place, and tourists would get it when they came to visit.

Kale room temperature, previously cooked with red onion and cocnut butter, crimini mushrooms tossed in olive oil and apple cider vinegar, and frozen banana cut thinly!!!!

Carrot butter sandwich

I always return to this. Pickled carrots on buttered toast.

There are many recipes for quick pickled carrots online. I first made this one, i think. From “Smitten Kitchen.”I next made one without sugar and with tons of coriander and it was not as good. But if you are avoiding sugar, just leave it out — they still do the trick!

Pickled Carrot Sticks
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine

1 pound carrots, cut into 3 1/2- by 1/3-inch sticks
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup cider or plain vinegar (the former makes a sweeter, milder brine)
1/4 cup sugar
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons dill seeds*
1 1/2 tablespoons salt

Place carrots in a heatproof bowl. Bring remaining ingredients to a boil in saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Pour pickling liquid over carrots and cool, uncovered. Chill carrots, covered, at least 1 day for flavors to develop.

Carrots keep, chilled in an airtight container, 1 month.

Korean sweet potato cake

is crazy!

Truly unlike anything I had ever eaten. I got it at Cafe Mak in Koreatown, LA, one of many serious and styled cafes in Koreatown open late. I remembered reading something about the sweet potato cake, and ordered it. The waitress said they were out of it but then was able to find a slice. 

I read later that it is made from japanese sweet potatoes, which are purple on the outside and white on the inside. There are actual chunks of potato in the main part of the cake, which feel like a curious dense firm pudding when you are chewing it. And since they are white, you can’t tell if there is a potato chunk in your bite until you put it in your mouth. It is kind of like eating sweet mashed potatoes. It is uncontestably sweet, like a dessert, which is what it is, but it is not overly sweet. My friend who is Taiwanese once told me that Americans are much less sensitive to levels of sweetness than the Taiwanese, and that Asian desserts are sweetened carefully and usually less than American ones. This was like that. Just sweet enough. To be honest, I found it kind of gross, but I also really liked it. I will definitely try it again, as you should!

     

 

Babaganoush… A word no one likes to say. Or write

It has such a mild flavor. I don’t think I’ve figured it out yet, but I like it. Here it is on two sandwiches and then tried as a sort of “dressing” on a tiny frisee salad. The dressing has potential. The others were good too, but the babaganoush mostly just added a buttery taste. And nutrition! Eggplant is good for you. Unless you are macrobiotic but that aspect of macrobiotics is weird.

Recipe: frisee with babaganoush

1.gather your frisee, however much you’d like. I can eat a lot at one time. Though that is not pictured below, because this was the last of what I had.

2. drizzle a little olive oil, or another kind of mild oil (actually maybe sesame oil would be really good! it is not a mild oil though, so whatever, any kind of oil). Add some apple cider vinegar. You are not trying to create a normal salad dressing. You want it tipped in the vinegar direction. just a tiny bit of oil, more vinegar, more acidic.

3. because then you put spoon some babaganoush on top, which is buttery and oily…

4. mix it up, or eat it with the babaganoush as a topping.

*don’t shy from mixing it with your hands at any stage

      

Carrot, Sauer kraut & butter salad

Recipe:

1. Carrots, maybe 1lb. – cut them. How do you want to cut yours? I like mine like this. I think this cut could be described as rustic. It makes me think of carrots you’d get steamed at a steak restaurant as a side dish. I try to cut them at angles somewhat. You, maybe you want coins, or chopped up smaller?
2. Steam carrots. I have a steamer like this, not this brand, but same design. It is definitely one of my most used kitchen things! Don’t steam them til they’re soft. You just want the fork to go through.
3. Put them in a bowl, add two or so tbsp. of ghee and stir it around while it melts in the hot carrots.
4. salt. the more you cook the more you just know how much salt to add. You can also smell salt. You can’t smell sugar but you can salt.
5. when it’s cooled a little, maybe 7-10-15 minutes, add a bunch of sauerkraut. Use good raw sauerkraut with active cultures, if you can, because it is so good for you. You can use a whole jar. or less if you like. Don’t just pour it all in there tho. You don’t want the juice. Do this near a sink: put a handful of sauerkraut in your hand and squeeze the juice out, then add to the carrots. Squeeze the juice out for all the sauerkraut.
6. mix it up! see if you need more salt. or even ghee if it’s still warm. it’s cool because the carrots absorb liquid as they cool, so you end up with a flavorful salad, buttery and salty and acidic and sweet, but it is also dry. it is a rich dryness.

    

1. Mushroom soup 2. Salad two ways

Recipe for soup to be added. Eating two different kinds of very simple green salads together is cool.

  

Incredible broccoli roasted with celery salt and oil

What is celery salt? I have no idea. Is it salt mixed with powdered celery? That seems likely. Was it used a lot in The 50’s? Anyways, it is great. It is such a complex flavor, akin to lemon zest. There’s a reason one of celery’s main uses is in stocks and soups. While once in a great while some cold raw stringy celery is perfect, it is not usually what I am hoping is for lunch. Celery salt allows you the addition of celery flavor, like in a broth, but for things that are not soupy, like, say, roasted broccoli.

There was just something about this that was so delectable. I couldn’t stop eating this broccoli. Use a lot of oil, and don’t take it out of the oven too soon

Celery salt!

Recipe:

1A. Preheat oven to 400.

1. 2 bunches of broccoli (or however much you want). Cut the florets off. I include the stalks too. They are great you just have to trim the outer layer if it is very tough– slice vertically down around all the sides. Then cut into “sticks” around the length of the florets. I didn’t used to know this and wasted so much broccoli!

2. Generously coat in grape seed oil. I use grapeseed for something like this because it has a high heat tolerance. For 2 bunches I would use maybe 2.5/3 tbsp.

3. Add some salt, regular salt. Just a bit, maybe 1/2 tsp. Add C e l e r y salt! Maybe 1 tbsp. mix it up.

4. Put in oven on a baking sheet or casserole dish for maybe 35-40 minutes, until it looks like photos below.

        

Carrots together two ways

Raw and pickled, together in a sort of salad. This was such a healthy meal, wow. I probably felt great after I ate that: roast salmon, green vegetable juice, Ezekiel brand whole grain english muffin, and carrots two ways!

      

L e n t I l s #=”u m a m I

This is the dish that inspired this food blog. I think it achieves “umami.” Lol. But seriously. Recipe coming soon!!!

  

Steak with chard two ways

 i like to cook chard stems separately like my parents used which I think they did because Marcella hazan said to in her famous cookbook. I like a lot of butter on chard stems. Usually I put them in the oven in a small casserole dish.