Another Tomatillo Salsa

Back in my college days, I worked in Fruitvale and there was this great Mexican restaurant we'd sometimes eat lunch at and they had a wonderful, smooth, avocado-tomatillo salsa. After picking up Farmers Market ingredients from Schaner Farm and Suzie's Farm, here's my attempt at recreating it:

4 large tomatillos, husk removed, rinsed well, quartered
1 medium avocado (or half of a Reed - my favorite variety)
1 jalepeño
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon lime juice or to taste
sea salt to taste
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped fine, leaves & stems

In a food processor, buzz all ingredients except cilantro until very smooth. Stir in cilantro.

Very simple. I served this at a party recently and it went over big!

Iced Teas & Herbal Tisanes

Technically, if it's herbal it's not called tea, it's called tisane.  But nobody really uses that word so I just call it herbal iced tea even if I'm just steep herbs and no actual tea is involved.  Whatever you call it, herbs are grown locally and tea isn't so I often steep herbs, on their own or with fruit and sometimes tea, to make lovely, refreshing drinks.

Here's some general guidelines:

• I use water just below a boil to steep tea/herbs/fruit
• I use about 2-3 bunches of fresh herbs or 1-2 ounces of dried herbs/tea per gallon of water.
• I steep herbs or fruit generally for about 20 minutes, tasting along the way for strength.
• I steep tea any where from 3-12 minutes, depending on the tea.  I like strong tea but I want to pull the leaves out before it gets bitter. If I'm using the same tea leaves multiple times the 1st steep is shorter and I'll add a couple minutes to each progressive steep (e.g. 3 minutes the 1st steep, 5 minutes the 2nd steep)
• I only use the highest quality tea and herbs I can find.  Tea can get super expensive but a little goes a long way.

I recently made a lavender-mint-lemon verbena tisane for an event at Suzie's Farm (using all ingredients grown at Suzie's, of course), which was also very popular when I made it for the farmers markets. Steep the leaves only on the verbena, strip them from the stems.  I think the stems are bitter.  But the lavender flower and leaves give good flavor, and most other fresh herbs you can steep the whole bunch. Here's a few more I love:

• fresh chocolate mint
• white peony tea & dried orange peel
• oolong & lemongrass
• black tea with dried orange peel, fresh ginger & honey
• dried hibiscus flower (think jamaica), plain or with citrus
• virgin "sangria": hibiscus, rosehips, raspberry leaf with fresh fruit & agave.

Pour over ice and add sweetener as desired.  I also love to cut lemonade with iced tea/tisane.

Melon Agua Fresca at Suzie's Farm

With Suzie's providing the ingredients, it was very easy to make wonderful agua frescas for their Pumpkin Palooza this year.  And boy did they go fast! Here's how I made them:

For about a 1/2 gallon of agua fresca:
about 8 cups watermelon chunks (or any melon your like), seeded and rinds removed
large handful of fresh mint leaves or lemon basil leaves (optional, and use whatever herbs strike your fancy)
a tablespoon of fresh squeezed citrus juice (lime, lemon or whatever you like)

Put all your ingredients in a blender and add water to cover at least half the melon (add more water as desired) and blend well.  Strain liquid with a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth (I use a rubber spatula to force as much liquid as possible through the strainer).  Pour over ice and enjoy!

Ian's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies + DIY Vanilla

We've monkeyed with many cookie recipes over the years and Ian's got this one absolutely perfected...

1/3 cup evaporated cane sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 stick cold butter, cut into 1/2" cubes (must be cold!)
1 egg (love those Schaner Farm eggs!)
1&1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I make my own)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup & 2 tablespoons all purpose unbleached wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
a heaping cup of chocolate chips (fair trade of course)
3/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped (Terra Bella Farm has lovely ones)

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the egg, vanilla and salt and mix well.  Add the flour and soda and mix until just combined. Fold in the chips and nuts. Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

Makes 2 dozen.

Variations
Chocolate chocolate chip cookies - reduce flour to 1 cup and add 1/4 of fair trade cocoa powder

Make Your Own Vanilla Extract
This is very, very simple:  after you use vanilla beans, save the pods!  They can be wiped clean or gently rinsed (if you've boiled them in cream, for example) and dried.  Put them in a dark glass jar (with a tight fitting lid) or bottle with 1/2 cup of rum, brandy or vodka (Ballast Point makes rum and vodka locally).  Wait a couple months before using. Keep adding vanilla pods whenever you use them!

Creamy Salad Dressings

I usually prefer vinaigrettes but sometimes a creamy dressing is the perfect compliment.

A dollop of creme fraiche with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt is simple and beautiful on butter lettuce garnished with fresh chives. Here's a couple more favorites...

Ranch Dressing
Nothing like the bottled stuff (which I find inedible), freshly made ranch dressing is wonderful, and for me, a comfort food full of nostalgia. We love it on green salads with lots of vegetables (we got the perfect haul today from Suzie's & JR's Farms: lettuce, red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, armenian cuc, broccoli and purple carrots), on potatoes, or as a dip for crudites, sweet potato fries, and even pizza crust. This recipe is also a good example of how recipes can easily be adapted to what you have on hand. I vastly prefer to use fresh ingredients, but dried spices can work in a pinch.

2 - 4 cloves garlic (you could sub granulated or powdered garlic)
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup sour cream, crema, or crème fraiche (you could even use plain yogurt or mayo)
¼ cup (or more) milk (or buttermilk, half & half, nonfat…)
¼ cup minced fresh herbs (flat-leaf parsley, chives maybe some thyme and dill or sub in dried herbs)
1 green onion, minced (or shallot, red onion or even onion powder or dried onion…)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (or vinegar - apple cider, white wine, sherry…)
Freshly ground black pepper

Mash the garlic and salt to a paste with the side of a chef's knife. In a bowl, whisk it together the rest of the ingredients (start with ¼ milk). If it’s too thick, thin with milk to desired consistency. If you use dried herbs/garlic/onion, let it sit for a hour or 2 before using).

Creamy Cilantro Dressing
This one's perfect for any kind of Mexican or "taco" salad. Try it on romaine with diced heirloom tomatoes or salsa fresca, black/pinto/kidney beans and broken tortilla chips.

1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon pepitas, toasted
1/4 bunch (or a handful) fresh cilantro
2 oz homemade goat milk ricotta (ideally cotija, but I can't find it local or organic)
sea salt to taste

Blend with immersion blender until smooth.

Back-to-School Lunches with PB&J

Sometimes its hard to come up with ideas of what to pack yourself (or your kid or spouse) for lunch but bringing your own lunch is a great way to to care for yourself, family and our earth: decreased packaging & waste, increased nutrition & love, and where ever you might buy your lunch I'm pretty sure they're not using much in the way of local and organic ingredients.  When I was little, it was the highlight of my day when I found "I love you" written on the napkin my mom tucked into my lunch box.

So there's the obvious choices:

• fresh or dried fruit
• fresh cut veggies
• nuts
• thermos of soup
• sandwich or wrap
• crackers or baguette with cheese or avocado
• leftovers (might require kitchen access it heat stuff up)
• salad (green, pasta, potato, etc)

Or you could pack any number of combos of bruschettas, dips, spreads, or salsas with veggies, crackers, pita, or baguette.

Here's a twist on a brown bag classic:

Roots' PB&J
On Sadie Rose multigrain bread, spread freshly ground peanut butter (or your favorite nut butter) and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Add a layer of sliced banana (but bananas are have a short season locally and are very unsustainable otherwise so try sliced apples instead). Sprinkle with a generous tablespoon of chopped toasted walnuts from Terra Bella Farm and drizzle with local honey. Spread the other slice of bread with Jackie's BRB Jam (or another local seasonal goodie - there are lots to try these days at the farmers markets)

Enjoy gooey deliciousness!

Ode to Julia: Leek & Potato Soup

This recipe is based on Julia Child's. It's one of my very favorite soup recipes and was very popular at Roots. It's simple, hearty, comforting, delicious, cheap, and easy to put your own spin on...

3 cups leeks, julienned
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
3 cups gold or red potatoes, well scrubbed & chopped (I leave the peel on for a more rustic soup but you can peel it if you prefer)
4 cups vegetable stock
sea salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil or butter over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the leeks and onions; cook until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring. Add the potatoes and stock. Bring to a boil; let simmer for 20 minutes. You can leave the soup chunky, or just blend half, but I prefer to blend (with an immersion blender) until mostly smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish options
sour cream or crème fraîche, grated cheese, crumbled blue cheese or cherve, fresh chopped parsley, chives or green onion, buttered croutons, blue cheese crostini…

Variations

• add in other vegetables (in with the potato or diced, sauteed, and added as a garnish): carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabga, cauliflower, winter squash, sorrel, spinach, kale…
• sweet potato & leek soup: use sweet potatoes instead of gold or red, garnish with grated gruyere cheese and fresh minced rosemary
• broccoli potato soup with cheddar: add a bunch of broccoli (rough chop florets; peel and shred stalks) to the last 5 minutes of simmering. Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese.

Kitchen Tip
Julienned Leeks
With a paring knife, remove the tough, dark green parts of leaves (save for stock). Starting at the root base, insert the knife through the leek and draw up through the top. Repeat, cutting leek lengthwise into thin strips. Cut into 1½ inch sections, removing root base. Place julienned leeks in a bowl of water and swish vigorously to rinse away all dirt.