Spring vegetables

Asparagus


Steamed asparagus and broccoli with lemon dressing



Roasted asparagus with orange and oregano


Asparagus with saffron champagne vinaigrette



Grilled chicken with asparagus


Fava beans






Quinoa pasta with beans and asparagus



Fava bean dip with garlic and Meyer lemon



Beans and peas ragout

Leeks



Braised leeks in white wine



Leek, spinach, and Gruyere quiche

Radish






Sautéed radishes and watercress

Artichokes



Steamed artichokes with lemon vinaigrette


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Location:San Rafael, CA

Do not compost

Do not compost

I didn’t say this! By all means, please do compost! It’s economical, fun, good for your garden and for the rest of the planet. However, I’ve noticed that people get carried away, and put on the compost pile things that should go in the pot and on the table. Please, do not compost these, give them a try:



Beet greens. They are sweet, tender, and full of vitamins. Why would you toss beet greens, and then go and buy Swiss chard? It’s actually the same plant, except the beets were bred to have larger roots, and the chard was bred for the leaves. Clean the beet greens carefully, then use in braised greens dishes, add to borscht, or sauté in olive oil and toss with pasta.



Radish and turnip tops. These greens add wonderful, slightly spicy flavor and tons of vitamins to any dish where you would use other leafy greens. Or roast radishes or small turnips with the greens attached, for added textural interest.




Outer green cabbage leaves, cauliflower, broccoli, and kohlrabi leaves. These can be tougher than the cabbage heads, so they take longer to cook. On the other hand, they have higher concentration of vitamins and minerals than white cabbage heads. When braising cabbage, start with shredded outer green leaves, give them 15 minutes head start, then add shredded white or red cabbage.



Or, remove the thick center veins from the leaves, blanch them in in boiling water or steam in a microwave for about 2 minutes, refresh under cold water, stuff with your choice of seasoned cooked grains, meats, and vegetables, roll into tight parcels, place in a baking dish with chicken or vegetable broth, tomato sauce, sour cream, or a combination; bake uncovered at 375 degrees until tender and beginning to turn golden. Serve with the pan sauce.



Broccoli stems. Peel them, cut a slice and try it raw – you’ll be surprised. It’s the best part of the broccoli! If anything is left after you tried them raw, slice them and steam in a steamer or in the microwave, together with the florets, 4-5 minutes. Refresh with cold water, toss with your favorite salad dressing. My current favorite is 1 Tbsp almond butter, 1 tsp tamari soy sauce, 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar, enough water to thin, salt and pepper. Top with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, toasted hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, or whatever you like.
Carrot tops. They taste like a carrot with a hint of parsley. They can be tough, so cut them finely and add to braised greens, soups, or pasta sauces in the beginning. Give them time to soften, and they will give your dish additional tasty goodness.

When making chicken or vegetable stock, carrot and onion trimmings, parsley stems and roots, green parts of leeks, kale stems, cabbage cores, leafy celery tops, small cloves from the center of a garlic head, lemons halves squeezed for juice, mushroom stems, bottom parts of asparagus – all add flavor, color and nutrition to the stock. Make sure that the vegetables are well cleaned. Simmer them in the stock for about 30 minutes to extract the flavor. If you are making a vegetable stock, after straining it, you can still compost the vegetables.




I’ve listed vegetable parts that I’ve been using in my cooking and enjoying for a long time. There may be other neglected edible plants or plant parts out there. Please do your research before attempting to cook and eat anything new. Our goal is to get taste and nutrition, not to get sick.
Do not try to cook with the greens from tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and other members of the nightshades family – they can be poisonous.
Braised mixed greens
This is a “loose” recipe, with lots of possible variations. I have made it with or without meat; with wine, different types of vinegar, and apple cider; using almost every leafy vegetable on the market. Taste as you cook. Note that chickories will add some bitterness, and chards and beets will add sweetness; adjust the seasoning.

Wash your greens well. Don’t waste time on drying then: any water clinging to the leaves will help them cook.

Serves 4
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 ounces bacon or pancetta, thinly sliced (optional)
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch black kale, stems removed, torn into bite-size pieces
1 bunch red kale, stems removed, torn into bite-size pieces
Tops from 1 bunch of turnips, with stems, chopped
Tops from 1 bunch of carrots, thick part of stems removed, chopped
1 cup not too fruity white wine (Italian pino grigio works well)
Salt, pepper

In a large, deep sauté pan heat oil over medium heat. Add bacon or pancetta, if using, brown, stirring often. Add onion, cook, stirring, until soft and beginning to turn color. Add garlic, cook another minute to soften it. Start adding greens in batches. The greens will shrink, giving you room to add more greens. Stir to help the greens to shrink evenly. Add wine. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low to maintain slow simmer. Simmer until the greens are tender, 30-45 minutes. Remove the lid. Taste, season with salt and pepper. If there is a lot of liquid remaining on the bottom, cook uncovered until almost all the liquid evaporates. Serve as a side to pork, sausage, or chicken, or over white beans or pasta.


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Location:San Rafael, CA

Last dinner on the Titanic

"Inside this floating palace that spring evening in 1912, warmth and lights, the hum of voices, the gay lilt of a German waltz - the unheeding sounds of a small world bent on pleasure" - First-class passenger Lady Duff-Gordon

On April 14, 100 years after the first technological catastrophe of the modern era, sinking of the Titanic, we attempted to recreate a part of the last dinner served to the first class passengers. The original menu from the first class dining saloon survived, and the authors of the beautiful book "Last Dinner on the Titanic. Menus and Recipes from the Great Liner" did a great job of restoring the recipes, based on memoirs of the survivors, period recipes from upscale restaurants and hotels, and educated guesses. They also restored the menus from the a la carte restaurant and the second- and third- class dining rooms.

The first class menu included 11 courses, with a few selections in each. For our small party of five that would be too much, both cooking and eating; I decided to make a few dishes from that menu as close to the original as I could, in memory of the chefs and cooks who went down with the Titanic on that terrible night, and serve it in the period style and using the period dinnerware.

Many thanks to my dear guests for their company, excellent wines, photographing the food (I would never manage it myself, running around serving eight courses of small portions), and help with the dishes, that are, in the best Edwardian tradition, not dishwasher safe.





R.M.S. Titanic

Dinner menu
April, 14, 2012
First class dinner saloon

Canapé a'l Admiral
Consommé Olga
Chicken Lyonnaise
Asparagus salad, champagne saffron vinaigrette
Beef fillet Forestier
Cheeses and salumi, fresh fruits
Madagascar vanilla ice cream
Chocolate pudding













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Location:San Rafael, CA

Fish selyanka

Here is another Russian cold-weather favorite, fish selyanka. Russia's beloved sturgeon and pickled vegetables come together in a tangy, rich, comforting soup, layered with subtle flavors.

The variations are as many as there are cooks. One version uses rinsed, chopped sauerkraut in addition to pickles, olives, and capers. In another version crayfish or shrimp shells are added to the stock, and cooked crayfish or shrimp tails are used to garnish the finished dish.

The rich fish stock for this soup can be made with any non-oily mild tasting inexpensive white fish, or with sturgeon heads and trimmings. Fatty fishes would add extra heaviness and too strong flavors to the stock, and should be avoided.

Fish that work well:
Perch
Ruffe
Striped bass
Snapper
Sturgeon heads

Fish that don't work:
Salmon
Tuna
Sea bass
Mackerel
Sardines

If using small fish, ask the fishmonger to scale and gut it, but leave the heads and tails on - they contribute to the stock. After making the stock the fish is usually discarded. I was making mine with white perch, and the little sweet fishes from the stock actually made a very good snack; just have to be careful about the bones - they are numerous and tiny.

Fish stock is different from meat and chicken stocks because it cooks very fast. If you put the aromatic vegetables in it whole, they will just begin cooking by the time the fish is completely spent. So, to get the most out of the vegetables, we'll chop them into large chunks.



Fish selyanka
Serves 4

For the stock:

1-1/2 lb small fish or fish heads and trimmings
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 whole parsley, with root, or 1 chopped parsnip and 1 small bunch of parsley leaves
1 cup white wine
Water to cover
1 bay leaf
10 black peppercorns


Place fish, onion, carrots, celery, parsley and parsnip into a pot. They should fit relatively tight. Pour in white wine and water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to achieve slow even simmer. Skim the stock, add bay leaf and black peppercorns. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, strain stock through a fine strainer into a clean pot. Discard the vegetables and fish (or, if the fish looks good, sprinkle it with sea salt and enjoy).



For the selyanka:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 yellow onion, diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 lb sturgeon, cut into four portions, skin and cartilage removed
20 olives, pitted and sliced
3 large kosher pickles, sliced
2 Tbsp capers, rinsed
1/2 cup marinated mushrooms (optional)
Salt, pepper
Lemon slices, chopped parsley (for serving)


Heat oil and butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté onions, stirring, until soft and beginning to turn color, 5-7 minutes. Add tomato paste, sauté 5 minutes more. Add 1 cup fish stock, stir well.

Bring 3 cups of stock to a boil. Add sturgeon, return to boil, reduce heat, simmer until sturgeon is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add onion-tomato mixture, olives, pickles, capers, mushrooms (if using). Heat through. Adjust seasoning. Depending on your ingredients, you may or may not need to add salt. Serve garnished with lemon slices and chopped parsley.



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Location:San Rafael, CA

Hey, Sweetie! Tasting California wildflower honey

I don't have a sweet tooth. At all. Indifferent to chocolate. Order cheese and wine for dessert. Eat fruit preserves one or two times a year (with cheese). I love fruits, but prefer them not too sweet. When I bake, people who don't like their desserts too sweet spoon sugar on my tarts. Those who like sweets, don't eat them at all.

Honey is different. The flavor of a good honey is so complex that you are not annoyed by the sweetness, you just enjoy the whole experience. It's as balanced as a well crafted wine.

I actually come from a honey producers family: my dad keeps bees at his country house near Moscow. He usually gets a few liters of honey to give to the family and friends, and some extra to sell. The varieties that he gets are clover, linden, buckwheat, and mixed summer flowers, depending on the season.

Now, where are my dad and his bees, and where am I? No chance to get our family honey, so I get mine from the farmers market.





Our farmers market honey people, Marchall's Farm, move their bees following the flowers, in order to produce single-origin honeys.
Here is what I got in their signature red mesh bag:
- Orange blossom honey - very floral, not too sweet
- California sage honey - delicate, very light herbal taste, not sweet at all
- Wild blackberry - SWEET, complex, fruity
- Star thistle honey - very complex, winey, slightly bitter (pleasant) aftertaste




I like my honey served at teatime on a slice of a very strong hard cheese. traveling in Bashkiria as a student, I fell in love with their dense white buckwheat honey, and the way they spread it generously over a thick slice of a Swiss-style local cheese.

Marchall's farms suggest paring their honey with a blue cheese, but I don't want to deal with the mess. So here were are, pairing a French Comte with California sage honey and white tea. You can try this with an off-dry German Riesling too.

Other suggestions for cooking with honey:
- Mix 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp Olive oil, 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce dash of Tabasco, 1 tsp ground black pepper. Use to marinate beef or chicken for the grill.

- Use a mixture of 2 Tbsp honey, 1 tsp dry mustard, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper as a rub for grilled chicken breasts

- For a tasty slaw, dress 2 cups shredded cabbage and 1/2 cup shredded carrot with 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper; mix well.

- Parboil young carrots, turnips, rutabagas until almost tender. Sauté in butter, glaze with honey and balsamic vinegar

- Use instead of sugar to sweeten Turkish coffee

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Location:San Rafael, CA

More pelmeni

I am still dealing with 200 pelmeni from one of my December posts. Well, I guess they are down to under 100 now.

Cooking pelmeni in a clear broth and serving them with it makes a fast and warming one-pot meal (Hello, ravioli in brodo, meet wonton soup!)

Any tasty homemade stock will work. I used my fresh made chicken stock, but beef stock would be even better, and vegetable broth or, in a pinch, salted water, are good. I never use store bought stocks for clear soups. They may be OK in sauces or pureed vegetable soups, but in a clear soup you taste the broth straight, and the packaged stocks never taste right. Also, in a clear soup the broth should be clear and beautiful, I haven't found packaged stuff that's perfectly clear. Please, don't do this shortcut. Use water.

So, bring your homemade stock or lightly salted water with a bay leave in it to a boil, drop frozen pelmeni in, bring back to boil, reduce the heat, simmer until pelmeni float, then two more minutes. Ladle the soup into deep bowls, garnish with herbs of your choice - parsley, dill, green onions are mine - and tons of freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy in front of a fireplace, with a shot of ice-cold vodka.




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Location:San Rafael, CA

Last years tomatoes

With the weird weather this year, my garden tomatoes were not producing very much over the summer. But now - in the middle of January! - there are suddenly lots of cherry tomatoes on the last years plants.



They don't ripen completely, I guess the days are too short. So I pick them orange, and let them ripen in the kitchen for a day or two. They are not as super-sweet as summer tomatoes, but they taste great! Even in their orange state the taste is complex and sweet.



The rains and cold weather are coming, and they will kill my plants for sure, but for now we are enjoying tomatoes fresh off the vine in the middle of the winter.

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Location:San Rafael, CA