Eatwell Recipe 4: Arugula, Parsley & Ricotta Pesto

Saturday, January 31, 2009

We've been getting big bunches of arugula in our produce box for the past few weeks. It's on the more mature side so it has a considerably peppery bite to it. We also got a big bunch of flat leaf Italian parsley - very fresh and aromatic.

Flat-leaf Italian Parsley

Eatwell included this yummy-sounding recipe in this week's newsletter and I decided to try it out since we are sadly pesto-starved at this time of year (even here in the food fantasy land of Northern California, basil is not in season right now.)

The pesto recipe is originally from a 2001 issue of Cooks Illustrated. It calls for both arugula and parsley (killing two birds with one stone!), as well as ricotta cheese, which I thought sounded interesting. The end result is really good - the ricotta gives it a creamy texture, the arugula adds some bite, the garlic is mellow after being toasted (an idea that was new to me), and the nuts and cheese do those things that only nuts and cheese can do...

Arugula-Parsley Ricotta Pesto Close Up

Served with a green salad (I threw some candied pecans on there for extra crunch and sweetness) and fresh bread with butter, this made a delicious dinner.

Arugula-Parsley Ricotta Pesto

Arugula, Parsley and Ricotta Pesto
Makes 1 1/2 cups, enough for 1 lb. of pasta

Note that when adding any pesto to cooked pasta it is important to include three or four tablespoons of the cooked pasta water for proper consistency and even distribution. This pesto can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three days if covered with a sheet of plastic wrap or a thin film of oil.

Ingredients

* 3 medium cloves garlic , unpeeled
* 1/4 cup pine nuts (or walnuts or almonds)
* 1 cup arugula (packed), washed and dried thoroughly
* 1 cup fresh parsley leaves (packed), washed and dried thoroughly
* 7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
* 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
* Table salt and ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Toast garlic in small dry skillet over medium heat, shaking pan occasionally, until softened and spotty brown, about 8 minutes; when cool, remove and discard skins. While garlic cools, toast nuts in skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes.

2. Place arugula and parsley in heavy-duty, quart-sized, zipper-lock plastic bag; bruise all leaves with meat pounder. (I have to admit that I skipped this step though you are welcome to follow it - seems like a fun way to get some aggression out.)

3. Blend the garlic (cut it into a few pieces to make it easier to blend), nuts, arugula, parsley, and oil until smooth in a food processor, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of bowl with a rubber spatula. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and stir in the cheeses. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Like this recipe? Click here to browse through more Eatwell Recipes.

The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox

Pickled Watermelon Radish: Eatwell Recipe 3

Monday, January 26, 2009

We received two HUGE watermelon radishes in our produce box this week. Since I knew there is no way in hell we are going to be eat quite that much salad in the next few days, I decided to try pickling them as they end up getting kind of rubbery after too many days in the fridge.

Sliced Watermelon Radish

As you can see from the pictures, these are not your ordinary radishes. Watermelon radishes have a pale green rind and a bright magenta interior (hence the watermelon moniker.) They're a little milder than most radishes and actually have kind of a sweet taste, combined with that classic radish bite. Since watermelon radishes are an heirloom variety of daikon, I figured that an Asian approach to pickling was in order.

I did not feel like messing with our canning equipment, nor did I fancy having a home that reeked of vinegar for the next several weeks (an unavoidable by-product of pickling anything), so I opted to make quick "refrigerator" pickles. These are a whole lot easier to make than "real" pickles -- instead of cooking the vegetable in vinegar, you simply immerse it in the pickling mixture and chill in the refrigerator. The only downside is that you can't store them indefinitely like you can the "cooked" kind that you are canned in sterilized jars. But they're so tasty that getting rid of them in a few days is usually not a problem!

Here's a glimpse into our fridge - aren't they pretty?

Pickled Watermelon Radishes in Fridge

Since these pickles are not meant for long-term storage, you should free to play with the amounts of vinegar, sugar and salt - the important thing is to make sure that all the slices are submerged in the pickling liquid and give them enough time to pickle in the fridge before eating. If you prefer a more traditional pickle taste, use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar in place of the rice vinegar.


-- print recipe --Pickled Watermelon Radishes
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

* 2 cups sliced radish
* 1 small onion, cut into thin wedges and separated
* 1/2 cup rice vinegar (or other vinegar)
* 1/8 cup sugar (start with this amount - you can always add more if you feel it's necessary)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Slice the radishes -you can do thin slices or julienned sticks- and the onion. Place the radish slices and onion in a large bowl or pack them into a jar. In another bowl, stir together the vinegar, sugar, and salt until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Pour the pickling mixture over the sliced radish and onion until they're fully covered.

3. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight before serving.

You might also like:
Want even more recipes, photos, giveaways, and food-related inspiration? "Like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest.

The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox

Slow Food For Fast People, An Interview With Amanda West

Friday, January 23, 2009

Fast food is the ultimate American invention--quick, cheap meals for people on the go. But we pay a heavy price for our national addiction--an epidemic of obesity, the destruction of our fragile environment, and the loss of community ties that could be maintained by taking the time to prepare and eat food together.

Despite these negatives, the need for quick, affordable food is undeniable in today's world. But why on earth are McDonalds and its competitors our only options? Every single time I get hungry on the road, in an airport, or at a shopping mall I wish that someone would hurry up and open a healthy fast food restaurant!


Turns out the wait is finally over--Amanda's Feel Good Fresh Food restaurant opened it's doors for business in Berkeley at the end of July 2008.

Amanda's Sign

The restaurant happens to be located right downstairs from my office so I was among the first to check it out (you may remember seeing
my review this summer
.) I'm happy to report that Amanda's is pretty much exactly what I'd been wishing for--the food is healthy (they have the nutrition guidelines to prove it, too), tasty, and affordable (a cheeseburger made with naturally raised beef and organic cheese is $4.50, baked sweet potato fries are $1.50, and a freshly made agave-sweetened soda is $1.75.)

Amanda's also goes out of its way to reduce its impact on the environment. For example, they don't sell bottled water since it creates too much landfill waste and takes a lot of petroleum to transport. Everything served in the restaurant is also fully compostable so any "trash" left over at the end of your meal can be deposited in one of the restaurant's green bins that feed directly into Amanda!
Berkeley's city composting program where it will become rich soil for local farms and city landscaping projects in a matter of months. The restaurant also tries to foster a sense of community with a series of events in the restaurant and around the neighborhood. The future of fast food has never looked so green, nor so healthy!

Amanda is often behind the counter in the restaurant, filling orders alongside her team (the handwritten "Amanda" on her wooden nametag was the only thing that tipped me off.) I was curious to know more about how she'd gone about making her idea a reality and what her plans were for
the future of the restaurant, so I introduced myself. She was kind enough to meet with me and answer my questions late last week.




How did you come up with the idea for Amanda's?

I'd wanted to someday run a business that had a social and environmental mission ever since college when I was inspired by a book I read by Tom Chapel, the founder of Tom's of Maine. So I always had that in the back of my mind. I went into technology when I graduated from college because that's where there was great opportunity to learn business -- I figured I needed to learn about business first and then I could figure out how to bring in the social mission.

I went back to business school because I wanted to focus on businesses with a social mission and Stanford has a really great social responsibility/public management program. After my first year, I ended up doing my summer internship at Niman Ranch, a natural meats company located in Oakland. That was the same summer that the movie
Supersize Me came out and that I read Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation.

I got to do some ride-alongs on the Niman Ranch delivery trucks that summer. We came up to Berkeley and went to Chez Panisse and Whole Foods and some other really nice grocery stores and I realized that that quality of food was not reaching many people, and definitely not reaching the people Schlosser writes about in Fast Food Nation. So that's when I started really thinking about this need. Then I spent my second year of business school focusing on building a business plan for the restaurant, researching the market, and talking to everyone in the restaurant industry. When I graduated from business school, I decided to actually start implementing the plan.

Once you'd had the idea for the restaurant, what was the path to making it a reality?


I think almost everyone who saw the movie Supersize Me had the same idea - that was the clear reaction. But the restaurant industry is really challenging and a lot of people who had the same idea probably didn't pursue it because it's so tough - there's a lot of competition and profit margins are slim --that's what I found out after studying it more in business school. But I also knew that I had the passion to do it anyway.

There are just hundreds of people who've helped build this. The restaurant has my name on it but it's definitely a community effort. In business school there were probably half a dozen classmates of mine and also people in other graduate programs helped put the business plan together. It was very well-researched which I think gave me confidence in it as well as giving a lot of other quality people the confidence to invest in the business both financially and with their time as advisors or as the consultants that helped design the menu and helped design the space.

Counter At Amanda's

How much of that designing and visioning did you do while you were at Stanford and how much did you do after?

Most of it was after. We had the vision of "Whole Foods meets In-N-Out Burger" as what we wanted to create but in terms of making that more tangible, it all happened after I graduated.


Was it difficult to find funding; did you find that process painful?

I actually found the process fun. I like meeting new people and talking to them. There were definitely a lot of people that I talked to that were not interested and that had a lot of fears about investing in a restaurant. Although everyone thinks that restaurants have a really high failure rate, they actually have a similar failure rate to other start-up businesses. The difference is that the failures are so much more public, more visible--people see the restaurant open up and then they see it close its doors. But ten little start-up software companies could fail and you'd never know they existed in the first place! That preconception made the fundraising a little more difficult. So the people that invested had to be really passionate about the concept and about the team.


How long did it take between when you had the idea and when Amanda's actually opened?

Four years. I was in business school for a year researching and putting the business plan together and then it took two years to find the location, several months to negotiate the lease and get the permitting and then some time to construct it.

How big is your team?

There are hundreds of people who made it happen though mostly they don't play an active role at this point. We have some advisors who I talk to every month or so. But on a day-to-day basis it's me and the team in the restaurant -- about 20 people.
I have an amazing assistant manager named Peter and he and I did all the hiring and training for our team.

What was the most surprising thing about the process of creating this type of restaurant?

I really think the surprising thing is that everything went as smoothly as it did. Our operations and our team are really amazing.

What has been the hardest part?

Well, before we opened the biggest challenge was finding the location. We knew that it had to be in the right location with great accessibility and walking traffic to supply the masses of people we need to be successful. We knew that what we were creating was not going to be a destination in and of itself - people are just not going to spend half an hour looking for a parking spot to buy a hamburger! At the time, competition for commercial real estate was really stiff. We looked at lots of spots where the landlord chose Starbucks or Peet's Coffee over us.

The hardest thing now is that my team and I have put so much of our hearts and effort into this that it's hard when people are not happy, when we're not satisfying people. There are so many different things--for example, some people like crunchy fries, some people like not-crunchy fries. That surprised me because I had never managed a restaurant before. That's definitely the hardest thing for me; I probably take things a little more personally than I should. I'm trying not to do that as much. But it's also balanced by the customers who are so supportive of what we're doing and so excited about it.

What are your plans for the future of Amanda's? Do you envision it becoming either a chain or a franchise?

That is the intention. We want to be able to grow this and, honestly, we need to get to scale to be able to offer affordable prices. We want to bring this food and this sort of feel-good environment to lots more people. Franchising is probably a no, at least not early on. We really want to focus on quality and build the brand and I think that's harder to do as a franchise. But we are considering next locations now.


May I ask where you're considering opening the next Amanda's?

Definitely in the Bay Area. Ideally, something that is somewhat close to where we are now - that's important from a management perspective and for delivery and that sort of thing. So somewhere either in the East Bay or San Francisco would be great.

Amanda's Menu Board

Berkeley can be a hard place to open new businesses because a lot of people are pretty anti-development. What has your reception from the community been like?

I have felt nothing but support from the City of Berkeley and from the majority of people here. The mayor comes in to the restaurant and so does the head of economic development. We actually got honorable mention at the Berkeley Sustainability Summit for modeling sustainability so I've felt very supported.

What I like about being in Berkeley is that it is activist central and people really care about our social and environmental mission and they push us on it. I know that it's hard for people who aren't in business on a day-to-day basis to understand the trade-offs that have to be made but that's okay because it's good to have people who care and who ask the questions. You can get wrapped up in the business and then it's easy to be tempted to give up some of your values in trying to be successful. But being in a community like this means that people take the trouble to ask things like why we're using compostable plastic containers "for here"? As a result, we've just changed from using the compostable plastic containers for the "for here" salads to serving them in cardboard boats. The cardboard will reduce our compost waste and will also be more efficient from an environmental perspective than the PLA (compostable plastic) stuff is. So I think it's great.

There are actually a lot of start-up restaurant concepts have come out of Berkeley from Peet's Coffee to Naia, the gelato place. And, of course, Chez Panisse.

Compostable Containers Explained

Amanda's seems to be a melting pot of sorts. I see a pretty diverse mix of customers -- Berkeley high kids, UC students, local professionals, young parents, hippies, security guards, and people who look like they'd be equally at home in the McDonalds up the street. Is that what you expected?

It's what I hoped! It's interesting because we thought that women would be our core customer (and I think they still are though I haven't spent enough time analyzing our customer base and actually counting customers) because women tend to care more about their health and make a lot of the restaurant decisions for their families and co-workers but it has been even more diverse than I expected. That's one of the things I like about being in Berkeley--we're not only bringing healthy food to people who already eat healthfully, there are also so many different people here that we can start actually making a change in the way some people are eating.

How is business?

It's good. It's been great this year. It was really great when we first opened. But just like all the restaurants around here, we have felt the impact of the economy. The seasonality of the students is also a big thing for us--the winter months are going to be a bit more challenging for us. But our price point is pretty low, it's a hamburger economy like everyone talks about, so we're really well-positioned. We're trying to cut costs and be as efficient as we can now. The good part about that is that it's setting us up to run the business even more efficiently in the future as we grow.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

It seems as though the big fast food chains are constantly offering some new thing - salads, yogurts, chalupas, some new regionally-inspired take on a hamburger or chicken sandwich, etc. Do you have plans to expand Amanda's menu?

We have some ideas of thing we could do and, in fact, we're about to add coffee and tea. But at the same time, we are really trying to keep thing simple from an operational perspective. Those big companies are trying to eke out the next 1% of sales but we have so much growth to do just in what we're offering now. We do have our seasonal salad which changes. But I don't think we're going to make any drastic changes any time soon.

Have you considered listing where you source your different ingredients from on your menu or your web site?

It's a balance, we try to talk about it on our web site but also not everyone wants to know. I'd rather source things locally (and it's cheaper to do that!) but you can't get organic tomatoes locally all year round or local organic apples so sometimes they have to come from New Zealand because we offer our apple fries all year long.

It's interesting -- everyone is so enamored of Niman ranch. If you say you buy your beef from Niman Ranch, people automatically assume that it was raised up in Marin County but in reality their meats come from ranches all around the country. We source our meat with a local family-owned distributor that sources its meats similarly to the way Niman Ranch does. So if people ask, we tell them our beef is from the Midwest and raised all-naturally. The veggies are as local as we can get them - they're sourced through a local produce company. But we don't go to the farmers market. I know that Bobby G (of
Bobby G's Pizzeria around the corner) does, though and I am amazed! I don't know how he finds the time to do that - I am very impressed. I would like to learn more about it. We want to continuously improve - there are always things we can do better.

Salad

Have you put a lot of effort into marketing?

Not too much yet other than our signs in front of our location and the great reviews we've received thus far. This is going to be the year of marketing. Early on, we had more sales than we expected and we wanted to focus on making sure that we were doing everything right and pleasing our customers and keeping costs under control. But now my team does not need me in the restaurant - I'm actually in the way when I'm there. So I'm going to be spending less time there - for their sake and also so that I can get more involved in the community and do more marketing and start looking at more growth.


We did get a lot of great PR early on. We're going to be on View From the Bay in February - that will be neat. That plus word of mouth... That is why I really wanted to focus on our service because that's what keeps people coming back. If we can provide a great product and great service then hopefully, we should not have to market ourselves too much. But at the same time there are people right in this area who don't know we're here so we do have some work to do.

Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?

Well, one thing that I didn't mention is that everything we do, all the decisions we make in the restaurant are based on our goal of creating a healthy community. For example, when we're deciding whether to buy local or to buy organic, that is what we use as our decision-making metric. This goal of a healthy community is something that we're trying to foster with our own customers and with our employees - we got all our staff trial memberships to the YMCA and Funky Door Yoga to encourage them to exercise. And they're really inspiring - most of them find more time to exercise than I do! Our team really makes us what we are - we'd be nowhere without them.

Eatwell Recipe 2: Butter Braised New Turnips

Monday, January 19, 2009

I have to admit that I was not entirely sure what to do with the beautiful young turnips we received in our CSA produce box last week - they're just not a veggie I have much experience with yet.

Gorgeous young turnips

Clearly some research was needed... I began by consulting all my cookbooks and am sorry to report that there were not very many turnip recipes among them, and even fewer that sounded really good to me. However, I did find a few that sounded quite promising which you may hear about soon, depending on what arrives in our next few produce boxes.

Spring turnips from Eatwell

Ironically, the recipe we tried first actually came from a cookbook I do NOT own yet -- How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. My friend Sarah had suggested it and I thought it sounded intriguing so I looked online and found a version that someone had posted. Since I can't compare it to the recipe in the cookbook, I am not 100% sure how closely this matches Bittman's original recipe.

Regardless, it was relatively easy and really good! I was drawn to its simplicity and have been very into braising lately... I think that the addition of other herbs could be interesting and tasty (maybe either thyme or mint?) We will definitely make this again.

Turnips braising

Here is a pic of the finished product, served with addictively delicious shoestring style Brussel sprouts (click here for that recipe), baked potatoes and glazed Niman Ranch ham. Yum!

Braised spring turnips, shoestring brussel sprouts, baked potatoes and glazed Niman Ranch ham

Butter Braised Turnips adapted from How To Cook Everything

Ingredients

* 2 Tbsps butter
* 1 Tbsp olive or other neutral oil
* 1 pound baby turnips, more or less, with the greens trimmed off (if the turnips you're dealing with are a little larger, cut them into quarters)
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup white wine or broth
* 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or other vinegar
* 1 tsp sugar
* Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Directions

1. Combine the butter and oil in a medium to large skillet that can later be covered; turn the heat to medium. When the butter melts, add the turnips and cook, stirring, until they are coated with butter, just a minute or two longer. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add the remaining ingredients, except the garnish, stir, and cover. Turn the heat to low and cook until the turnips are barely tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Uncover and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring, until the turnips are glazed and the liquid is syrupy, another few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish, and serve.

Like this recipe? Click here to browse through more Eatwell Recipes.

The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox

Spinach & Onion Quesadillas (Eatwell Project Recipe 1)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Spinach-Onion Quesadillas

I'm pleased to present the first in our series of Eatwell Farm-inspired recipes! My hope is that these recipes will help you cook and eat more locally and seasonally.

This first recipe is a simple and very yummy one -- spinach and onion quesadillas. I served them with mango jicama salsa even though mangoes do not qualify as local (
click here for the salsa recipe) and sour cream along with an arugula citrus salad.

I chose this because it seemed like a good way to use both the spinach and the onions we'd received in our produce box this week and because quesadillas are hearty and delicious yet easy to prepare.

Onions

Since it is the rainy season here in northern California, the spinach tends to get rather muddy. We followed Eatwell's instructions and rinsed the spinach to remove most of the mud, removed and yellow leaves, then soaked/swirled the leaves in cold, salted water for another ten minutes before rinsing one final time, drying and storing it in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Sauteeing spinach with herbs and garlic for the harvest lasagna by Eve Fox, The Garden of Eating, copyright 2014

Then I sauteed it with the onions, spread a mountain of cheese on the tortilla, topped it with another tortilla and toasted it in a hot skillet, flipping it once, until it was nicely crisped on both sides. Num num...

Spinach and Onion Quesadillas

-- print recipe --Spinach & Onion Quesadillas
Serves 4

Ingredients

* 1 large bunch spinach, washed and dried (if the leaves are really large you may want to shred or cut them a little bit to make them easier to deal with)
* 1 large onion, peeled and chopped (I personally think you can't use too much onion in this recipe so feel free to use more than this if you have it on hand!)
* 2-3 cups organic cheese, shredded (I recommend using either cheddar, monterey jack, or pepper jack if you like a little more spice)
* 1 package of organic whole wheat tortillas (you'll need at least 8 tortillas - some packs come with 8 and some come with 10)
* 2 Tbsps olive or canola oil
* 1-2 tsps sea salt
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1-2 tsps ground cumin
* Pinch of chili flakes or powder (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275. Heat the oil in a heavy pan and saute the onions until translucent and sweet. Add the spinach (you may have to add it in batches to get it to fit in the pan) and stir for several minutes until it is fully cooked down. Season to taste with salt, pepper, cumin and chili - you want it to be very flavorful. It's okay to make it a little on the saltier side since the cheese will provide a much more neutral, unsalted counterpoint.

2. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat and rub it with a little oil. While you're waiting for it to heat, prepare your first quesadilla for cooking by spreading a layer of the spinach and onion filling, add a layer of cheese (keep in mind the number of quesadillas you have yet to make when you use the filling and cheese so that you can dole it out equally amongst them), and then top another quesadilla.

3. Put the quesadilla in the pan and cook for several minutes until the bottom is nicely browned, then press the top down gently to get the cheese to help stick it in place and flip it over to brown the other side for another two minutes or so.

4. Once done, remove to a plate and keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve. When all the quesadillas are done, cut them into triangles (as big or small as you like) and serve with the salsa and sour cream. ¡Buen provecho!

You might also like:
The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox
For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.

Winter Bounty From EatWell Farm: Week 1

Sunday, January 11, 2009

I'm not big on New Years resolutions but my husband, Rahm and I both agreed that we would like to make an effort to eat locally and seasonally this year. To aid us in sticking to that "resolution", we reinstated our subscription to EatWell Farm's CSA. Eatwell is a 65-acre organic farm located in Dixon, CA in the Sacramento Valley - they've been farming there since 1993.

Thanks to northern California's mild climate, the growing season lasts year-round here so it is totally feasible to begin a venture like this in the middle of the winter! We are now signed up to receive a box of locally-grown, organic produce once every two weeks (we had felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of produce when we were receiving a box each week and figured this would be a more manageable amount for us.)

Yesterday, I picked up our first box on the sunporch of a little Berkeley bungalow located a few blocks from our house. Here is a pic of the wintertime bounty - not too shabby, eh?

Bountiful winter produce box from Eatwell Farm: Week 1

The box contained: spinach (a bit muddy from the rain but very sweet), lettuce, arugala, bok choy, red kale, turnips, onions, watermelon daikon radishes (the rainbow is on the inside...), white turnips, mandarin oranges (those are from Terra Firma farm), and a whole bunch of little kiwis (did you know they grow on VINES?)

The box also contained the adorable Eatwell Farm newsletter which may actually be my favorite part.

Eatwell newsletter1-9-09

I just love their updates from the farm. Nigel and the rest of the crew at Eatwell are just so committed to farming, to treating the land well, and to producing delicious, healthy food and it shows in every line of their newsletter and in their blog (also one of my favorites - you can view it at: http://www.eatwellfarm.typepad.com/), not to mention in every bit of the food we receive. What luck to find a farmer who also happens to be a good writer and communicator!

No doubt that some of these veggies will require us to get a little more creative in our cooking than we normally would be. I figure this will be a good challenge for us/me.

Keep an eye out for upcoming Eatwell Farm-inspired recipes -- I will try to post roughly one a week.

Maple Garam Masala Pecans With Arugala, Goat Cheese & Mandarin Zest

Saturday, January 10, 2009

A few days ago, I was trying to come up with something yummy to have for lunch and decided to whip up a quick batch of candied pecans. Since I was already starving, I chose to go the quick route (you can read a previous post about a slightly longer, equally delicious method for candying nuts here).

Maple garam masala candied pecans

I added a little oil to a small, heavy frying pan (I used walnut oil but safflower or canola would work equally well, I think) and toasted some organic pecans for a few minutes to add a little depth to their natural flavor. Then I added a glug of maple syrup, a few grinds of fresh black pepper, and a generous dusting of garam masala spice (I think ground cumin would work equally well.) I'm not going to provide measurements since it is totally up to you how much you want to use.

I let it all cook down for another minute or two and, voila, a batch of delicious candied nuts to add to my salad.

The salad was simple - baby arugla and lettuce with some goat cheese, the pecans, a splash of balsamic vinaigrette (just olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic), and a little bit of zest from the skin of a mandarin orange I had handy to add a little bright citrus flavor.


Maple garam masala pecans star in this winter greens salad along with goat cheese and mandarin zest

Yum! I find these nuts addictively delicious. They make any salad special (and are also good by themselves.) Walnuts work really well for candying, too. And you can play around with the spices and sweeteners to try out new combinations -- it'd be pretty hard to go wrong.

You can also try out my recipe for spicy candied pecans below - these keep really well and are not sticky the way nuts made with this quicker pan fried method tend to be: http://gardenofeatingblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/spicy-candied-pecans.html

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Eatwell Recipe 4: Arugula, Parsley & Ricotta Pesto

We've been getting big bunches of arugula in our produce box for the past few weeks. It's on the more mature side so it has a considerably peppery bite to it. We also got a big bunch of flat leaf Italian parsley - very fresh and aromatic.

Flat-leaf Italian Parsley

Eatwell included this yummy-sounding recipe in this week's newsletter and I decided to try it out since we are sadly pesto-starved at this time of year (even here in the food fantasy land of Northern California, basil is not in season right now.)

The pesto recipe is originally from a 2001 issue of Cooks Illustrated. It calls for both arugula and parsley (killing two birds with one stone!), as well as ricotta cheese, which I thought sounded interesting. The end result is really good - the ricotta gives it a creamy texture, the arugula adds some bite, the garlic is mellow after being toasted (an idea that was new to me), and the nuts and cheese do those things that only nuts and cheese can do...

Arugula-Parsley Ricotta Pesto Close Up

Served with a green salad (I threw some candied pecans on there for extra crunch and sweetness) and fresh bread with butter, this made a delicious dinner.

Arugula-Parsley Ricotta Pesto

Arugula, Parsley and Ricotta Pesto
Makes 1 1/2 cups, enough for 1 lb. of pasta

Note that when adding any pesto to cooked pasta it is important to include three or four tablespoons of the cooked pasta water for proper consistency and even distribution. This pesto can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three days if covered with a sheet of plastic wrap or a thin film of oil.

Ingredients

* 3 medium cloves garlic , unpeeled
* 1/4 cup pine nuts (or walnuts or almonds)
* 1 cup arugula (packed), washed and dried thoroughly
* 1 cup fresh parsley leaves (packed), washed and dried thoroughly
* 7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
* 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
* Table salt and ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Toast garlic in small dry skillet over medium heat, shaking pan occasionally, until softened and spotty brown, about 8 minutes; when cool, remove and discard skins. While garlic cools, toast nuts in skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes.

2. Place arugula and parsley in heavy-duty, quart-sized, zipper-lock plastic bag; bruise all leaves with meat pounder. (I have to admit that I skipped this step though you are welcome to follow it - seems like a fun way to get some aggression out.)

3. Blend the garlic (cut it into a few pieces to make it easier to blend), nuts, arugula, parsley, and oil until smooth in a food processor, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of bowl with a rubber spatula. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and stir in the cheeses. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Like this recipe? Click here to browse through more Eatwell Recipes.

The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox

Monday, January 26, 2009

Pickled Watermelon Radish: Eatwell Recipe 3

We received two HUGE watermelon radishes in our produce box this week. Since I knew there is no way in hell we are going to be eat quite that much salad in the next few days, I decided to try pickling them as they end up getting kind of rubbery after too many days in the fridge.

Sliced Watermelon Radish

As you can see from the pictures, these are not your ordinary radishes. Watermelon radishes have a pale green rind and a bright magenta interior (hence the watermelon moniker.) They're a little milder than most radishes and actually have kind of a sweet taste, combined with that classic radish bite. Since watermelon radishes are an heirloom variety of daikon, I figured that an Asian approach to pickling was in order.

I did not feel like messing with our canning equipment, nor did I fancy having a home that reeked of vinegar for the next several weeks (an unavoidable by-product of pickling anything), so I opted to make quick "refrigerator" pickles. These are a whole lot easier to make than "real" pickles -- instead of cooking the vegetable in vinegar, you simply immerse it in the pickling mixture and chill in the refrigerator. The only downside is that you can't store them indefinitely like you can the "cooked" kind that you are canned in sterilized jars. But they're so tasty that getting rid of them in a few days is usually not a problem!

Here's a glimpse into our fridge - aren't they pretty?

Pickled Watermelon Radishes in Fridge

Since these pickles are not meant for long-term storage, you should free to play with the amounts of vinegar, sugar and salt - the important thing is to make sure that all the slices are submerged in the pickling liquid and give them enough time to pickle in the fridge before eating. If you prefer a more traditional pickle taste, use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar in place of the rice vinegar.


-- print recipe --Pickled Watermelon Radishes
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

* 2 cups sliced radish
* 1 small onion, cut into thin wedges and separated
* 1/2 cup rice vinegar (or other vinegar)
* 1/8 cup sugar (start with this amount - you can always add more if you feel it's necessary)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Slice the radishes -you can do thin slices or julienned sticks- and the onion. Place the radish slices and onion in a large bowl or pack them into a jar. In another bowl, stir together the vinegar, sugar, and salt until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Pour the pickling mixture over the sliced radish and onion until they're fully covered.

3. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight before serving.

You might also like:
Want even more recipes, photos, giveaways, and food-related inspiration? "Like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest.

The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox

Friday, January 23, 2009

Slow Food For Fast People, An Interview With Amanda West

Fast food is the ultimate American invention--quick, cheap meals for people on the go. But we pay a heavy price for our national addiction--an epidemic of obesity, the destruction of our fragile environment, and the loss of community ties that could be maintained by taking the time to prepare and eat food together.

Despite these negatives, the need for quick, affordable food is undeniable in today's world. But why on earth are McDonalds and its competitors our only options? Every single time I get hungry on the road, in an airport, or at a shopping mall I wish that someone would hurry up and open a healthy fast food restaurant!


Turns out the wait is finally over--Amanda's Feel Good Fresh Food restaurant opened it's doors for business in Berkeley at the end of July 2008.

Amanda's Sign

The restaurant happens to be located right downstairs from my office so I was among the first to check it out (you may remember seeing
my review this summer
.) I'm happy to report that Amanda's is pretty much exactly what I'd been wishing for--the food is healthy (they have the nutrition guidelines to prove it, too), tasty, and affordable (a cheeseburger made with naturally raised beef and organic cheese is $4.50, baked sweet potato fries are $1.50, and a freshly made agave-sweetened soda is $1.75.)

Amanda's also goes out of its way to reduce its impact on the environment. For example, they don't sell bottled water since it creates too much landfill waste and takes a lot of petroleum to transport. Everything served in the restaurant is also fully compostable so any "trash" left over at the end of your meal can be deposited in one of the restaurant's green bins that feed directly into Amanda!
Berkeley's city composting program where it will become rich soil for local farms and city landscaping projects in a matter of months. The restaurant also tries to foster a sense of community with a series of events in the restaurant and around the neighborhood. The future of fast food has never looked so green, nor so healthy!

Amanda is often behind the counter in the restaurant, filling orders alongside her team (the handwritten "Amanda" on her wooden nametag was the only thing that tipped me off.) I was curious to know more about how she'd gone about making her idea a reality and what her plans were for
the future of the restaurant, so I introduced myself. She was kind enough to meet with me and answer my questions late last week.




How did you come up with the idea for Amanda's?

I'd wanted to someday run a business that had a social and environmental mission ever since college when I was inspired by a book I read by Tom Chapel, the founder of Tom's of Maine. So I always had that in the back of my mind. I went into technology when I graduated from college because that's where there was great opportunity to learn business -- I figured I needed to learn about business first and then I could figure out how to bring in the social mission.

I went back to business school because I wanted to focus on businesses with a social mission and Stanford has a really great social responsibility/public management program. After my first year, I ended up doing my summer internship at Niman Ranch, a natural meats company located in Oakland. That was the same summer that the movie
Supersize Me came out and that I read Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation.

I got to do some ride-alongs on the Niman Ranch delivery trucks that summer. We came up to Berkeley and went to Chez Panisse and Whole Foods and some other really nice grocery stores and I realized that that quality of food was not reaching many people, and definitely not reaching the people Schlosser writes about in Fast Food Nation. So that's when I started really thinking about this need. Then I spent my second year of business school focusing on building a business plan for the restaurant, researching the market, and talking to everyone in the restaurant industry. When I graduated from business school, I decided to actually start implementing the plan.

Once you'd had the idea for the restaurant, what was the path to making it a reality?


I think almost everyone who saw the movie Supersize Me had the same idea - that was the clear reaction. But the restaurant industry is really challenging and a lot of people who had the same idea probably didn't pursue it because it's so tough - there's a lot of competition and profit margins are slim --that's what I found out after studying it more in business school. But I also knew that I had the passion to do it anyway.

There are just hundreds of people who've helped build this. The restaurant has my name on it but it's definitely a community effort. In business school there were probably half a dozen classmates of mine and also people in other graduate programs helped put the business plan together. It was very well-researched which I think gave me confidence in it as well as giving a lot of other quality people the confidence to invest in the business both financially and with their time as advisors or as the consultants that helped design the menu and helped design the space.

Counter At Amanda's

How much of that designing and visioning did you do while you were at Stanford and how much did you do after?

Most of it was after. We had the vision of "Whole Foods meets In-N-Out Burger" as what we wanted to create but in terms of making that more tangible, it all happened after I graduated.


Was it difficult to find funding; did you find that process painful?

I actually found the process fun. I like meeting new people and talking to them. There were definitely a lot of people that I talked to that were not interested and that had a lot of fears about investing in a restaurant. Although everyone thinks that restaurants have a really high failure rate, they actually have a similar failure rate to other start-up businesses. The difference is that the failures are so much more public, more visible--people see the restaurant open up and then they see it close its doors. But ten little start-up software companies could fail and you'd never know they existed in the first place! That preconception made the fundraising a little more difficult. So the people that invested had to be really passionate about the concept and about the team.


How long did it take between when you had the idea and when Amanda's actually opened?

Four years. I was in business school for a year researching and putting the business plan together and then it took two years to find the location, several months to negotiate the lease and get the permitting and then some time to construct it.

How big is your team?

There are hundreds of people who made it happen though mostly they don't play an active role at this point. We have some advisors who I talk to every month or so. But on a day-to-day basis it's me and the team in the restaurant -- about 20 people.
I have an amazing assistant manager named Peter and he and I did all the hiring and training for our team.

What was the most surprising thing about the process of creating this type of restaurant?

I really think the surprising thing is that everything went as smoothly as it did. Our operations and our team are really amazing.

What has been the hardest part?

Well, before we opened the biggest challenge was finding the location. We knew that it had to be in the right location with great accessibility and walking traffic to supply the masses of people we need to be successful. We knew that what we were creating was not going to be a destination in and of itself - people are just not going to spend half an hour looking for a parking spot to buy a hamburger! At the time, competition for commercial real estate was really stiff. We looked at lots of spots where the landlord chose Starbucks or Peet's Coffee over us.

The hardest thing now is that my team and I have put so much of our hearts and effort into this that it's hard when people are not happy, when we're not satisfying people. There are so many different things--for example, some people like crunchy fries, some people like not-crunchy fries. That surprised me because I had never managed a restaurant before. That's definitely the hardest thing for me; I probably take things a little more personally than I should. I'm trying not to do that as much. But it's also balanced by the customers who are so supportive of what we're doing and so excited about it.

What are your plans for the future of Amanda's? Do you envision it becoming either a chain or a franchise?

That is the intention. We want to be able to grow this and, honestly, we need to get to scale to be able to offer affordable prices. We want to bring this food and this sort of feel-good environment to lots more people. Franchising is probably a no, at least not early on. We really want to focus on quality and build the brand and I think that's harder to do as a franchise. But we are considering next locations now.


May I ask where you're considering opening the next Amanda's?

Definitely in the Bay Area. Ideally, something that is somewhat close to where we are now - that's important from a management perspective and for delivery and that sort of thing. So somewhere either in the East Bay or San Francisco would be great.

Amanda's Menu Board

Berkeley can be a hard place to open new businesses because a lot of people are pretty anti-development. What has your reception from the community been like?

I have felt nothing but support from the City of Berkeley and from the majority of people here. The mayor comes in to the restaurant and so does the head of economic development. We actually got honorable mention at the Berkeley Sustainability Summit for modeling sustainability so I've felt very supported.

What I like about being in Berkeley is that it is activist central and people really care about our social and environmental mission and they push us on it. I know that it's hard for people who aren't in business on a day-to-day basis to understand the trade-offs that have to be made but that's okay because it's good to have people who care and who ask the questions. You can get wrapped up in the business and then it's easy to be tempted to give up some of your values in trying to be successful. But being in a community like this means that people take the trouble to ask things like why we're using compostable plastic containers "for here"? As a result, we've just changed from using the compostable plastic containers for the "for here" salads to serving them in cardboard boats. The cardboard will reduce our compost waste and will also be more efficient from an environmental perspective than the PLA (compostable plastic) stuff is. So I think it's great.

There are actually a lot of start-up restaurant concepts have come out of Berkeley from Peet's Coffee to Naia, the gelato place. And, of course, Chez Panisse.

Compostable Containers Explained

Amanda's seems to be a melting pot of sorts. I see a pretty diverse mix of customers -- Berkeley high kids, UC students, local professionals, young parents, hippies, security guards, and people who look like they'd be equally at home in the McDonalds up the street. Is that what you expected?

It's what I hoped! It's interesting because we thought that women would be our core customer (and I think they still are though I haven't spent enough time analyzing our customer base and actually counting customers) because women tend to care more about their health and make a lot of the restaurant decisions for their families and co-workers but it has been even more diverse than I expected. That's one of the things I like about being in Berkeley--we're not only bringing healthy food to people who already eat healthfully, there are also so many different people here that we can start actually making a change in the way some people are eating.

How is business?

It's good. It's been great this year. It was really great when we first opened. But just like all the restaurants around here, we have felt the impact of the economy. The seasonality of the students is also a big thing for us--the winter months are going to be a bit more challenging for us. But our price point is pretty low, it's a hamburger economy like everyone talks about, so we're really well-positioned. We're trying to cut costs and be as efficient as we can now. The good part about that is that it's setting us up to run the business even more efficiently in the future as we grow.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

It seems as though the big fast food chains are constantly offering some new thing - salads, yogurts, chalupas, some new regionally-inspired take on a hamburger or chicken sandwich, etc. Do you have plans to expand Amanda's menu?

We have some ideas of thing we could do and, in fact, we're about to add coffee and tea. But at the same time, we are really trying to keep thing simple from an operational perspective. Those big companies are trying to eke out the next 1% of sales but we have so much growth to do just in what we're offering now. We do have our seasonal salad which changes. But I don't think we're going to make any drastic changes any time soon.

Have you considered listing where you source your different ingredients from on your menu or your web site?

It's a balance, we try to talk about it on our web site but also not everyone wants to know. I'd rather source things locally (and it's cheaper to do that!) but you can't get organic tomatoes locally all year round or local organic apples so sometimes they have to come from New Zealand because we offer our apple fries all year long.

It's interesting -- everyone is so enamored of Niman ranch. If you say you buy your beef from Niman Ranch, people automatically assume that it was raised up in Marin County but in reality their meats come from ranches all around the country. We source our meat with a local family-owned distributor that sources its meats similarly to the way Niman Ranch does. So if people ask, we tell them our beef is from the Midwest and raised all-naturally. The veggies are as local as we can get them - they're sourced through a local produce company. But we don't go to the farmers market. I know that Bobby G (of
Bobby G's Pizzeria around the corner) does, though and I am amazed! I don't know how he finds the time to do that - I am very impressed. I would like to learn more about it. We want to continuously improve - there are always things we can do better.

Salad

Have you put a lot of effort into marketing?

Not too much yet other than our signs in front of our location and the great reviews we've received thus far. This is going to be the year of marketing. Early on, we had more sales than we expected and we wanted to focus on making sure that we were doing everything right and pleasing our customers and keeping costs under control. But now my team does not need me in the restaurant - I'm actually in the way when I'm there. So I'm going to be spending less time there - for their sake and also so that I can get more involved in the community and do more marketing and start looking at more growth.


We did get a lot of great PR early on. We're going to be on View From the Bay in February - that will be neat. That plus word of mouth... That is why I really wanted to focus on our service because that's what keeps people coming back. If we can provide a great product and great service then hopefully, we should not have to market ourselves too much. But at the same time there are people right in this area who don't know we're here so we do have some work to do.

Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?

Well, one thing that I didn't mention is that everything we do, all the decisions we make in the restaurant are based on our goal of creating a healthy community. For example, when we're deciding whether to buy local or to buy organic, that is what we use as our decision-making metric. This goal of a healthy community is something that we're trying to foster with our own customers and with our employees - we got all our staff trial memberships to the YMCA and Funky Door Yoga to encourage them to exercise. And they're really inspiring - most of them find more time to exercise than I do! Our team really makes us what we are - we'd be nowhere without them.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Eatwell Recipe 2: Butter Braised New Turnips

I have to admit that I was not entirely sure what to do with the beautiful young turnips we received in our CSA produce box last week - they're just not a veggie I have much experience with yet.

Gorgeous young turnips

Clearly some research was needed... I began by consulting all my cookbooks and am sorry to report that there were not very many turnip recipes among them, and even fewer that sounded really good to me. However, I did find a few that sounded quite promising which you may hear about soon, depending on what arrives in our next few produce boxes.

Spring turnips from Eatwell

Ironically, the recipe we tried first actually came from a cookbook I do NOT own yet -- How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. My friend Sarah had suggested it and I thought it sounded intriguing so I looked online and found a version that someone had posted. Since I can't compare it to the recipe in the cookbook, I am not 100% sure how closely this matches Bittman's original recipe.

Regardless, it was relatively easy and really good! I was drawn to its simplicity and have been very into braising lately... I think that the addition of other herbs could be interesting and tasty (maybe either thyme or mint?) We will definitely make this again.

Turnips braising

Here is a pic of the finished product, served with addictively delicious shoestring style Brussel sprouts (click here for that recipe), baked potatoes and glazed Niman Ranch ham. Yum!

Braised spring turnips, shoestring brussel sprouts, baked potatoes and glazed Niman Ranch ham

Butter Braised Turnips adapted from How To Cook Everything

Ingredients

* 2 Tbsps butter
* 1 Tbsp olive or other neutral oil
* 1 pound baby turnips, more or less, with the greens trimmed off (if the turnips you're dealing with are a little larger, cut them into quarters)
* Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup white wine or broth
* 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or other vinegar
* 1 tsp sugar
* Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Directions

1. Combine the butter and oil in a medium to large skillet that can later be covered; turn the heat to medium. When the butter melts, add the turnips and cook, stirring, until they are coated with butter, just a minute or two longer. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add the remaining ingredients, except the garnish, stir, and cover. Turn the heat to low and cook until the turnips are barely tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Uncover and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring, until the turnips are glazed and the liquid is syrupy, another few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish, and serve.

Like this recipe? Click here to browse through more Eatwell Recipes.

The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Spinach & Onion Quesadillas (Eatwell Project Recipe 1)

Spinach-Onion Quesadillas

I'm pleased to present the first in our series of Eatwell Farm-inspired recipes! My hope is that these recipes will help you cook and eat more locally and seasonally.

This first recipe is a simple and very yummy one -- spinach and onion quesadillas. I served them with mango jicama salsa even though mangoes do not qualify as local (
click here for the salsa recipe) and sour cream along with an arugula citrus salad.

I chose this because it seemed like a good way to use both the spinach and the onions we'd received in our produce box this week and because quesadillas are hearty and delicious yet easy to prepare.

Onions

Since it is the rainy season here in northern California, the spinach tends to get rather muddy. We followed Eatwell's instructions and rinsed the spinach to remove most of the mud, removed and yellow leaves, then soaked/swirled the leaves in cold, salted water for another ten minutes before rinsing one final time, drying and storing it in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Sauteeing spinach with herbs and garlic for the harvest lasagna by Eve Fox, The Garden of Eating, copyright 2014

Then I sauteed it with the onions, spread a mountain of cheese on the tortilla, topped it with another tortilla and toasted it in a hot skillet, flipping it once, until it was nicely crisped on both sides. Num num...

Spinach and Onion Quesadillas

-- print recipe --Spinach & Onion Quesadillas
Serves 4

Ingredients

* 1 large bunch spinach, washed and dried (if the leaves are really large you may want to shred or cut them a little bit to make them easier to deal with)
* 1 large onion, peeled and chopped (I personally think you can't use too much onion in this recipe so feel free to use more than this if you have it on hand!)
* 2-3 cups organic cheese, shredded (I recommend using either cheddar, monterey jack, or pepper jack if you like a little more spice)
* 1 package of organic whole wheat tortillas (you'll need at least 8 tortillas - some packs come with 8 and some come with 10)
* 2 Tbsps olive or canola oil
* 1-2 tsps sea salt
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1-2 tsps ground cumin
* Pinch of chili flakes or powder (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275. Heat the oil in a heavy pan and saute the onions until translucent and sweet. Add the spinach (you may have to add it in batches to get it to fit in the pan) and stir for several minutes until it is fully cooked down. Season to taste with salt, pepper, cumin and chili - you want it to be very flavorful. It's okay to make it a little on the saltier side since the cheese will provide a much more neutral, unsalted counterpoint.

2. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat and rub it with a little oil. While you're waiting for it to heat, prepare your first quesadilla for cooking by spreading a layer of the spinach and onion filling, add a layer of cheese (keep in mind the number of quesadillas you have yet to make when you use the filling and cheese so that you can dole it out equally amongst them), and then top another quesadilla.

3. Put the quesadilla in the pan and cook for several minutes until the bottom is nicely browned, then press the top down gently to get the cheese to help stick it in place and flip it over to brown the other side for another two minutes or so.

4. Once done, remove to a plate and keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve. When all the quesadillas are done, cut them into triangles (as big or small as you like) and serve with the salsa and sour cream. ¡Buen provecho!

You might also like:
The Eatwell Project: a year of seasonal recipes -- logo by Eve Fox
For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Winter Bounty From EatWell Farm: Week 1

I'm not big on New Years resolutions but my husband, Rahm and I both agreed that we would like to make an effort to eat locally and seasonally this year. To aid us in sticking to that "resolution", we reinstated our subscription to EatWell Farm's CSA. Eatwell is a 65-acre organic farm located in Dixon, CA in the Sacramento Valley - they've been farming there since 1993.

Thanks to northern California's mild climate, the growing season lasts year-round here so it is totally feasible to begin a venture like this in the middle of the winter! We are now signed up to receive a box of locally-grown, organic produce once every two weeks (we had felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of produce when we were receiving a box each week and figured this would be a more manageable amount for us.)

Yesterday, I picked up our first box on the sunporch of a little Berkeley bungalow located a few blocks from our house. Here is a pic of the wintertime bounty - not too shabby, eh?

Bountiful winter produce box from Eatwell Farm: Week 1

The box contained: spinach (a bit muddy from the rain but very sweet), lettuce, arugala, bok choy, red kale, turnips, onions, watermelon daikon radishes (the rainbow is on the inside...), white turnips, mandarin oranges (those are from Terra Firma farm), and a whole bunch of little kiwis (did you know they grow on VINES?)

The box also contained the adorable Eatwell Farm newsletter which may actually be my favorite part.

Eatwell newsletter1-9-09

I just love their updates from the farm. Nigel and the rest of the crew at Eatwell are just so committed to farming, to treating the land well, and to producing delicious, healthy food and it shows in every line of their newsletter and in their blog (also one of my favorites - you can view it at: http://www.eatwellfarm.typepad.com/), not to mention in every bit of the food we receive. What luck to find a farmer who also happens to be a good writer and communicator!

No doubt that some of these veggies will require us to get a little more creative in our cooking than we normally would be. I figure this will be a good challenge for us/me.

Keep an eye out for upcoming Eatwell Farm-inspired recipes -- I will try to post roughly one a week.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Maple Garam Masala Pecans With Arugala, Goat Cheese & Mandarin Zest

A few days ago, I was trying to come up with something yummy to have for lunch and decided to whip up a quick batch of candied pecans. Since I was already starving, I chose to go the quick route (you can read a previous post about a slightly longer, equally delicious method for candying nuts here).

Maple garam masala candied pecans

I added a little oil to a small, heavy frying pan (I used walnut oil but safflower or canola would work equally well, I think) and toasted some organic pecans for a few minutes to add a little depth to their natural flavor. Then I added a glug of maple syrup, a few grinds of fresh black pepper, and a generous dusting of garam masala spice (I think ground cumin would work equally well.) I'm not going to provide measurements since it is totally up to you how much you want to use.

I let it all cook down for another minute or two and, voila, a batch of delicious candied nuts to add to my salad.

The salad was simple - baby arugla and lettuce with some goat cheese, the pecans, a splash of balsamic vinaigrette (just olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic), and a little bit of zest from the skin of a mandarin orange I had handy to add a little bright citrus flavor.


Maple garam masala pecans star in this winter greens salad along with goat cheese and mandarin zest

Yum! I find these nuts addictively delicious. They make any salad special (and are also good by themselves.) Walnuts work really well for candying, too. And you can play around with the spices and sweeteners to try out new combinations -- it'd be pretty hard to go wrong.

You can also try out my recipe for spicy candied pecans below - these keep really well and are not sticky the way nuts made with this quicker pan fried method tend to be: http://gardenofeatingblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/spicy-candied-pecans.html