ginger - - Page 4

by gansie

Better Than a Tiara of Ginger

At this point, a purple pepper and a yellow watermelon barely excite me. I get it. Change the color of a food and it’s like new again.

But what about actual new. Last year fresh ginger, with hot pink streaks and the stalks strung together to look like a tiara, totally pleased me. But like a drug addict, I needed more.

And then, there it was. Edamame. It wasn’t all that cute on the stem, brown and hairy. But it was more interesting than dipped in soy, as I boiled it and led it star in a succotash.

I crowned edamame as my favorite summer farmers’ market find. What was your warm weather food discovery before the autumnal equinox takes over later tonight?

in Veggie 2 comments

by BS

Plantains Three Ways

Fruit is pretty great and all, but how much better is it when deep-fried? Am I right?

Well, I know I am. Having grown up on Nuyorican restaurants, I’ve been a pretty rabid plantain fan for a long time. But one longtime frustration was that I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to recreate these delicious little fritters at home. But, after much experimentation and web browsing, I’m happy to report I’ve started to get the hang of it. The secret turns out to be the same secret as every other delicious restaurant food: you’ve got to throw all delusions of semi-healthiness to the wind. Oil, baby. Lots of it. Like seriously, gallons. Cooking plantains in a tablespoon or two of oil always resulted in bland, starchy discs with not-quite-right texture, but once I worked up the courage to really douse them in oil, I’ve been able to make both sweet, rich plantains from super-ripe bananas, as well as crispy, more hearty ones from green bananas.

You don’t necessarily need a deep-fryer, but you need to cut those plantains thin, fill your saucepan up with a whole lot of the golden stuff, get it nice and bubbly, then let ’em fry for just a few minutes.

That dilemma solved, obviously I was ready to start getting a little wacky. As much as I love eating plain crispy plantains with the simple garlic sauce they serve at Puerto Rican places, I wondered if they couldn’t stand for a little spicing up at home, so I took three different attempts at crafting a more creative plantain. No, this is not a lame, haute cusine “three-way” dish, but merely three different ways they can be prepared…

Appetizers All Night

My back hurts. Really hurts. I have no idea how chefs stand for that many hours in a row. I just finished my most recent catering gig. This was with 80P’s mom again. I conducted many, many brainstorming conversations (thanks: Maids, Romeo, El, WestCoast, BS, 80P…) but because I’m so used to Eating Down the Fridge (using up ingredients in my fridge/pantry and not shopping for new food) that I could only fathom working with items already in my possession, or ones I knew I could pick up while working at the farmers market.

Fortunately, I was recently in Philly for work and had some spare time before dinner (ate at Monk’s–mussels, fries and stout–with BroadAndPattison). I found this adorable nut shack: Nuts to You.

I’m not even kidding, I was in that place for 45 minutes browsing the 4 aisle store filled with nuts, dried fruits, grains and candies. I walked out with, and I’m still not kidding, FIVE pounds of food, which I then had to drag around as I wasted more time checking out Banana Republic, Lacoste, Williams-Sonoma (don’t get me started on their uni-tasker inventory; they have 6 instruments alone to peel and chop garlic) and this weird all-natural soap and lotion place with the perkiest staff of all time. Soap that smells like pine nuts and lavender, no thanks.

I left Nuts To You with: dried dates (pound), dried figs (pound), quinoa (pound), mixed bag of almonds, cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts and walnuts (pound) and cashew butter (pound). Yes, not peanut butter, but cashew butter. And I saw them make it. There was this crazy looking glass machine with some peanut oil in it and the salesperson dumped a pound of cashews into the machine and then out oozed cashew butter. No salt, no preservatives, no corn syrup. Just nuts and oil. A-mazing.

Anyway, with that in the cupboard, here is what I proposed to 80P’s Mom:

Dates and figs (either or both) stuffed with cheese (either ricotta, goat cheese or quark) and herbs. This can be served warm or room temp and can be stuck with a toothpick for serving
Sweet potato disks with cashew butter and chili powder spread ( Can spread the cashew butter on top of the chips or let people dip it)
On a toothpick: cube of roasted winter squash, cube of feta, cube of squash
Cucumber slice with Greek yogurt, lemon zest and quinoa
Artichoke, olive and caper crostini
Radish, cashew butter and broccoli (Or the broccoli can be cooked)

80P’s Mom selections after the jump.

Ginger Loving Care

I know the weekend is near when I get an email from the farmers market director on Friday afternoon. Rebbie Higgins writes about what she’s been eating:

You may feel like you’re up to your armpits in tomatoes (everyone’s a gardener this year!), but it won’t last forever, so enjoy them while you can. Tree and Leaf is already starting to bring their green tomatoes: I fry them in olive oil and serve them on brown rice with a fried egg and salt for comfort food.

Rebbie also highlights the market’s rare gem for that week:

Tree and Leaf grew ginger. I can’t believe it. They’re only selling it at the MtP market and it won’t last long. Combine with butternut squash and the new Quaker Valley Orchard pears, and make a delicious Gingered Squash and Pear Soup. Top with fried sage and fresh chives. Sounds like Fall to me!

Ginger! Ginger! Holy crap. I never thought about the beginnings of ginger. How it grows, what it looks like, the climate and soil needed…But oh I’ll buy it (even at $15 per pound.) Young ginger hasn’t grown that pale golden skin yet. The ginger is bright and white, with flecks of hot pink. There were green stems popping out as well. While not edible, they can be added to soups for a ginger flavor. (The woman buying the ginger ahead of me talked about brewing a tea with the ginger stem and pineapple.)

I didn’t have such bold ambitions, but wanted to create something to highlight the fresh ginger.