When the forecast said Rain...

 This Saturday morning I have been racing against the clouds as they have been threatening to bring rain all weekend. 

 I leapt out of bed to get a good run in by the cliff (pictured below), and I ran back and made a yummy breakfast before the rest of the errands that need to be done before the end of the day.

I got home starving, and suddenly felt like buttermilk biscuits straight from the oven.  I had eaten some the previous weekend at a diner, and just have not been able to get those out of my head.  Then it struck me that I would like some jalapeno and cheddar flavored biscuits, and luckily, having been to the farmer's market the previous weekend I had some beautiful orange and green jalapenos in the fridge.  And on I went.

A taste of summer

When my mom was visiting from the East Coast a few months ago, she went to every single farmer's market in and around Santa Cruz, including the UCSC farm, and brought home every vegetable and fruit imaginable.  She spent days preparing yummy Indian dishes and other things like garlic, ginger and chili paste and popped them into the freezer for me to use.  This batch of yummy farm-fresh strawberries comes from the farm stand at UCSC farm, probably less than a day after they were picked, and then frozen by Mother.

The recipe calls for buttermilk, for which I have to admit, I have found a genius trick.  Instead of buying a bottle of buttermilk and have it sit in the fridge and go bad unused, I buy buttermilk powder in bulk.  It can sit in your pantry for months, and all you do is add water.

Strawberry Buttermilk Scones

1 cup All Purpose flour
1.5 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1.5 T sugar
1/4 t salt
1 T lemon zest
3 T butter, chilled and chopped
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven 400 degrees F.  Mix all dried ingredients together.  Add the lemon zest and then the butter.  Fork the butter into the flour mixture until it is crumbly.

Add strawberries and stir.  Add the buttermilk, mix for a few seconds and plop onto a cutting board.  Form the dough into a ball (Do not overmix or knead - this is not breadmaking).  Form into a roundish mound and cut into 4 pieces.  Place them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (or a Silpat), and top with crunchy sugar.  Bake for 15-20 minutes and eat immediately !

When life gives you fresh green peas....

You shell them, and although you can sit there and shell them and pop 'em in your mouth quite easily throughout the day, it seemed a bit of a shame not to get a little more out of them.  So I went into my garden and plucked a handful of oregano, had the boyfriend shell the rest of the peas and voila.  It was a lovely breakfast on a sunny day in Santa Cruz.

Pea and Oregano Pesto Crostini

1 cup peas

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup fresh oregano

2 T white beans

1/4 cup grated parmasean regianno

2 T olive oil

salt 

pepper

A squirt of fresh lemon juice

Whiz all ingredients in a food process, and spread onto crusty toasty bread. Top with sprouts for a lovely crunch. Yum !

Mary Mary quite contrary... How does your garden grow?

Mine grows with marigolds, and romaine lettuce, and sweet peas and basil

With pink and white Cosmos

And Curry leaves and more marigolds

With hot lips salvia

My spring fling... with Fava beans

Spring is the time of year when it seems everything pops to life after a long period of hibernation.  The days are longer and sort of warmer, wildflowers have popped up everywhere you turn, and the stands at the farmers' market are overflowing with all varieties of veggies that are almost impossible to ignore.  The last visit to the market brought huge green fava beans. It took some thought as to how to cook these up and I did not want to do the inevitable and throw them in a minestrone, and have their bright greenness and their buttery texture wither away from all the cooking. This salad is a lovely and simple way to showcase the beans and it turns out really yummy and fresh.

Fava Bean salad

You will need:

a bunch of fava beans

Juice of one lemon

2 T olive oil

1 small shallot

1/2 an English cucumber, chopped
half a bunch of parsley, roughly torn

1/2 inch chunks of feta

The first thing you will need to do is shell the beans.  You will notice that they are pale green, and you will need to peel off another layer to reveal the bean.  This is rather time consuming, and upon some internet research I found that boiling them for 2-3 minutes in hot water, dumping them out in an ice bath, makes it a much easier task of peeling. They also turn into a beautiful bright green.

In a bowl, combine beans and the rest of the ingredients, minus the feta, and mix with your hands.  Top with chunky pieces of salty feta, sprinkle some more parsley, and eat with a pan fried piece of fish or by itself for a yummy salad. I love the grassy flavor and the freshness of the parsley in this dish. I like to leave the leaves whole.

Lazy Saturday morning Shakshouka

This is my very first food blog entry (hello!), and it is rather fitting that I chose to make shakshouka, or chakchouka, or shakshuka, because, I have to be honest - I do love tomatoes.  To me there is nothing better than a rich and tangy tomato sauce that is so sumptuous it leaves you wanting more. I must admit, on occasion, and I may be in danger of exposing a little too much too soon, I have been known to use my fingers as a spactula and clean out my beautiful yellow Le Creuset dutch oven until every bit of sauce is gone. And who thought you could improve upon such perfection as the harmonious partnership between succulent spaghetti and tangy marinara?  Apparently the Isrealis did, because they merely dropped an egg onto this glorious marmalade, and let it transform into a delicious breakfast/brunch item, which I first tasted in a very understated NYC restaurant called Taboun.  And lo and behold I had found my favorite weekend brunch treat.  Taboun serves it with a side of pan fried haloumi cheese and crusty bread. I recommend the same, unless of course you cannot find it in your local grocery store, at which point it can be substituted with feta. 

If you are not familiar with haloumi, it is a rather chewy and salty cheese from Cyprus. I like it because you can sear it on a pan, and it won't melt away into obscurity, and adds a different texture than any old soft cheese you may be used to. Give it a go, and it may just become a staple in your refrigerator.

Shakshouka (Israeli Baked Eggs in a Spicy tomato sauce)

To make the sauce:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 16oz can of Italian whole peeled tomatoes OR 4-5 fresh chopped tomatoes
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
a few sprigs of thyme
Salt to taste

In addition:

2 eggs
4 oz of Haloumi cheese
crusty bread

Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat, and add chopped onions. Once softened and golden, add chopped garlic and stir for a minute or two.  Add in the tomatoes, crushing them with your fingers until they are chunky(This bit is oddly satisfying).

A side note on the kind of tomatoes to use: If you are using canned, I would use any Italian brand, San Marzano being the absolute best in my eyes. And I say this not to sound like a food snob in any way, but I've noticed that the taste of the tomatoes is more intense, and when you do have a simple dish like this where you are using just 2 main ingredients, you want to get maximum flavor out of each. In turn if you are using fresh tomatoes, I prefer Roma because they tend to be more tangy than say, vine-ripened or beefsteaks.

Ahem, getting back to the sauce - at this point, add the paprika, chili flakes and thyme, and let the sauce simmer until it literally glugs away at you, and you see the greenish tinge of olive oil seeping around the edges, which means it is done. Add salt to taste, and with a wooden spoon, make 2 small 'holes' in the sauce where you can see the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat just a tad, and break in the eggs into their respective holes. Sprinkle some salt and pepper, and cover and let the eggs look on very low heat to the 'done'-ness that you prefer. Alternatively, you can bake these in individual baking dishes in the oven at 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. I find 15 mins gets the yoke firm but still a little soft and yellow.  In the meantime, on a dry hot pan, add a few slices of haloumi and let them turn golden and blistered. Toast your bread, and Devour!

Serves 2