This is a story about Nettles. Once upon a time, not too long ago, if somebody mentioned nettles to me I automatically thought Wicked Stepmother, Fairy Tales, The Brothers Grimm. Nettles were something that wicked Queens made you eat, or sleep on, or wear, or gather or something like that. After all Nettles have a first name too, and it's STINGING! So yeah, if somebody (Paula Wolfert) is telling me they're good to eat, that's a leap of faith. Why not just boil up a porcupine and be done with it?
My main experience with nettle involved the old fairy tale The Wild Swans. I had a comic book about it as a kid. It seems these guys (Princes of course) got bewitched and turned into birds, and so this Princess who was either their sister or their girlfriend or whatever, had to go gather nettles in the field and spin them into cloth in order to make clothes for these swans and then put the clothes on the swans before they flew away in order to turn them back into her brothers, or her dates or whatever.
In the story, he turns out like this
In reality he'd probably look more like this.
But I digress. Stinging Nettles aren't just for avian clothing anymore, if they ever were. People all over the world have been eating nettles for eons. I'm just late to the game, but better late than never. Nettles are one of the signs of Spring in the Farmers Market. This inexpensive weed is rich in vitamins and flavorful. In fact nettles are similar to spinach or sorrel in taste and the only difference is that certain precautions have to be followed when preparing them. They don't call them stinging for nothing.
In fact Wikipedia has this to say about them:
The leaves and stems are very hairy with non-stinging hairs and also bear many stinging hairs (trichomes), whose tips come off when touched, transforming the hair into a needle that will inject several chemicals: acetylcholine, histamine, 5-HT (serotonin), moroidin, leukotrienes, and possibly formic acid. This mixture of chemical compounds cause a painful sting or paresthesia from which the species derives its common name.
So then how does the smart nettler deal with the sharp hairy little buggers?Withplain old medical gloves that's how!
Weirdly enough, while processing them I felt less like this:
And more like this:
But at $2.00 a bag I was sold. After all where else could I get such an inexpensive, easy, seasonal soup? If you're lucky enough to have nettles at your local market or in your garden don't be afraid to try them, and if you don't, spinach or watercress will do just as well.
Spring Nettle Soup
Here's What You Need:
1/2 lb Stinging nettles
2 tsps salt
1 onion finely chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 cup basmati rice, or 1 lb peeled diced boiling potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
Here's What To Do:
Boil a pot of water add in the 2 tsp of salt.
When the water is boiling toss in the nettles.
To avoid any sort of rash or getting stung, make sure that you wear some sort of gloves whenever handling the nettles, even after cooking them.
Boil the nettles for about 1 to 2 minutes, so that they soften.
Drain them in a colendar.
Run cold water over them.
Trim off the stems, and chop the nettles. It's okay to remove your gloves now.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a pot and toss in the chopped onion.
Saute the onion in the pot until it's turned translucent.
Add in the rice.
And the chicken or vegetable broth.
Add in the cooked nettles.
Bring everything to a boil then turn the heat down to medium low, slap a lid on things and let it all cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until the rice or potatoes are soft.
Put the soup in a food processor or use an immersion blender and puree everything.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Decorate with a bit of sour cream or yogurt and serve it up.
There it is. The sting but not the taste taken out, guaranteed to turn any old goose into a Prince.
But what would soup be without butter milk biscuits? Alone, is what it would be, at least at my house. So follow this link to my Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe
This is what you'll find.
So, there you have it, a quick Spring fix, courtesy of the Farmers Market. Coming up next more seasonal Indian cooking and something extra. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori
Our Farmers' Market is going strong here in Sonoma. There's always a Friday Morning Organic Market no matter what the season, but what everyone waits for every year is the kickoff of the Summer Tuesday Night Farmer's Market. That's when most of the town can be found sprawled out on the Plaza lawn with their picnic baskets. Everyone comes to the Tuesday Night Farmer's Market and they don't just come for the socializing They come for the amazing produce.
There are 3 types of fruit that I am giant crow in the trees crazy about. Pomegranates, Figs and Cherries. Unfortunately, these fruits have a very short season so when they're available, I will knock you over to get to them. I'm not kidding. The most delicate of these seems to be the cherries. Too much sun, no cherries, too much rain, no cherries. Last Spring, we had a lot of late rain and boom, overnight the bountiful cherries I was seeing on all the trees were gone. But sometimes it's just right. That's the case right now. We have hit cherry perfection here in Sonoma. That's why I'm taking advantage of whatever I can get my mitts on since the weather here in Wine Country can turn on a dime this time of year. The cherries we've been getting here in Sonoma are not Bing cherries. Those will be along in a few weeks. What I've been buying are early cherries known as Chelan.
I think there's almost no better way to enjoy cherries than in vanilla ice cream and while we're at it, adding a little bit of dark chocolate never hurt anything either. Far from it. While I was at the market looking for chocolate to chunk up for the ice cream, Alan handed me a container of chocolate pearls made by Valrhona.
Cherries and pearls they seem made for each other.
Vanilla Cherry Ice Cream With Valhrona Chocolate Pearls
Here's What You Need:
3/4 cup of sugar
2 cups of whipping cream
1 and 1/2 cups of milk
1 cup of pitted quartered cherries
1/4 cup of chocolate pearls or 1/2 cup of small chocolate pieces.
2 tsps of vanilla extract
Cut the cherries in half and in half again to have nice bite sized pieces. Set aside.
In a large bowl mix together: 1 and 1/2 cup of milk and 3/4 cup of sugar.
When this is well mixed and the sugar dissolved, add in 2 cups of whipping cream.
Add in the vanilla.
Whisk everything together well and pour it into an ice cream machine.
Churn for about 20 minutes then add in the cherry pieces.
And the chocolate pearls or pieces.
The reason for waiting 20 minutes is you want the ice cream to be soft yet firm enough to support the cherries and chocolate pieces so they don't all fall to the bottom of the machine and are well distributed through the ice cream.
Let the machine churn for another 8 minutes or so, or until the ice cream is ready to be scooped into a container and put into the freezer.
Let the ice cream "age" in the freezer for an hour or so, for the best texture.
Serve it up!
If you like cherries, vanilla and chocolate, then this ice cream is for you.
But, life isn't all just ponies and rainbows and cherry vanilla ice cream with chocolate pearls. I'm going to be having a bowl of nettle soup for dinner this evening and no wicked stepmother was involved. It turns out that nettles are one of Springs' delicacies. Who knew. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori
First Times are never supposed to be very good. Awkward, messy, never living up to expectations, it's the reason they make so many movies about them. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Superbad, American Pie and of course this guy.
First times are something one is supposed to laugh and cry about years later usually at a drunken high school reunion. But here I am loud and proud, bragging about my first time just days after the fact.
When ever I tell people I live in Sonoma almost the first thing they ask me is "Have you eaten at The French Laundry?" For years I've been able to dodge the answer.
"Well, it's in Younteville and we live in Sonoma. That's the other side of the Myacamas" (actually about 12 miles away.) Lame answer.
"It's really, really, really, hard to get reservations, nearly impossible." (doubly lame.) That's like "I really, really, like you and of course want you to meet my parents and tell them about us but their schedule is soooo busy."
"Those places are really never all they're cracked up to be. It's actually mostly hype." Yeah sure.
Well, finally I can say "Yes, I've done it. Finally, I've eaten at the French Laundry and yes, it was amazing."
We've eaten at a lot of restaurants over the years, the usual suspects in the usual places. Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Santa Fe, Sonoma, Santa Barbara. We came, we saw, we ate, and yes I will admit to being a chef groupie. If open kitchens are Woodstock, I'm the one dancing down front with the body paint on X.
After eating at a lot of places, over the years I know that I'm not comfortable in hotsy totsy snooty places. I don't need to feel like I'm dining with the Hapsburg emperor in 1897 with waiters hovering around like the Secret Service. I've actually eaten in the restaurant featured in this clip and I felt like I was going to be sent to my room if I made the slightest etiquette error.
So, I was nervous when our friends invited us to join them that night. I was nervous. This was a grown up, dress up place. Guys wear ties, girls wear pearls, or at least something nice. I would have to leave my jeans and boots at home. Alan would have to wear a jacket and tie. In LA the only place they really make you wear a jacket and tie is when they're burying you, and sometimes not even then. Most places there are grateful if you're wearing flipflops. This was scary. I was nervous. Not normal nervous, I'm talking Junior Prom nervous. I was afraid that I'd be intimidated by the service, that the staff would make me feel self conscious and that they'd be watching me eat every bite. I was sure I'd feel as though I were an intruder in the palace. I couldn't have been more wrong.
First of all, the building is warm and inviting from the outside. After all it was a freaking laundry not Buckingham Palace!
We were seated in the upstairs dining room. It's a clean, cool room. Elegantly simple. The experience is one of dining in someones' lovely French country house. Not that I'd know anything about that experience but I've seen enough Bunuel movies.
So okay, lovely surroundings, calm and soothing. The perfect setting for the perfect dinner with friends. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out nothing. The evening was perfection.
The way The French Laundry works is two 9 course prixe fixe tasting menues every day. One vegetarian, one not. The menues are different every day. Many of the ingredients are grown in the garden across the road that one sees from the windows of the restaurant. One of our hosts for the evening is a vegetarian who is also piscatarian, that is, he will eat fish. No problem, they adapted the vegetarian menu to give him a few fish courses for variety. His wife has a gluten allergy and here is where my mind was officially blown. She informed the restaurant about her needs when making the reservation and they came through like champs.
Every time we were served something that had gluten in it she was served the very same thing, only the gluten-free version. No fuss, no muss. She was not made to feel "different" because of a food allergy. The creativity and care they took in meeting her dietary needs was extraordinary. I've never seen anything like it. If you have a gluten allergy, you need not fear. You will get great treatment here.
I wish I had some pictures to share but the idea of whipping out my iPhone and snapping away at every course set before me just didn't seem right. I just couldn't do it. Of course that didn't seem to stop the couple at the table next to us who seemed to be shooting a virtual photo essay of the evening. The food, the plates, the wine, selfies, each other. The restaurant seemed to be cool with it. Nobody stopped them and I got the idea that it certainly happens often there. After all it is The French Laundry, one of the top 50 restaurants in the world.
Dining at the French Laundry is not a hurried affair. Prepare to spend about 3 hours at table. The menu is a delight to read. The origins of the ingredients are sourced and any questions one needs answered are capably handled by the waitstaff. I'd give you a menu link but it since changes every day I can only tell you what I had on Monday evening.
Oysters and Pearls Sabayon of pearl tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar
Salade De Chou-Fleur Fava Beans, Poached Bing Cherries and Watercress
Sauteed Fillet of Pacific Yellowtail Globe Artichokes, Niscoise Olives,Sun Gold Tomatoes, and Petite Basil
Sweet Butter-Poached Maine Lobster Hen egg emulsion,Sacramento Delta Green Asparagus, Red Radishes, and Black Winter Truffle Vinegarette
Four Story Hill Farm Poularde Rillette Arrowleaf Spinach, Corn Cake, Cipollini Onions and Poularde Jus
After that, the next plate is an individual choice. I selected,
Bacon Wrapped Marcho Farm Nature-Fed Veal Fingerling Potatoes, Spring Onions,Nantes Carrots, and Sauce Bordelaise
We moved through the various courses, each small plates exquisitely prepared. Of course wine was ordered. I don't drink, but Alan and our friends enjoyed a
bottle each of Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru
and Domaine Meo-Camuzet Les Chaumes, Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru. Okay
, I have no idea what any of that is but let me say they were all very
well pleased with their selections. I can highly recommend the sparkling
water.
After all of that food, I expected to receive the dessert that we had each selected before the meal started. Not so fast, the fun wasn't even close to over.
A Cheese Course came for each of us
Andante Dairy Legato Poached Field Rhubarb, Piedmont Hazelnut Crisp, Garden Mache, and Black Winter Truffle Coulis
A Fruit Course
Verjus Blanc Demi-Sec Grapes, Jasmine Tea Ice Cream, and Caramel Crisp
Finally the Dessert Course
Princess Cake Animal Farm Buttermilk, Navel Orange Marmalade, Toasted Marzipan, and Cara Cara Orange Sorbet
After dessert the staff asked us if we'd like coffee or tea. Strange I thought, usually coffee is served with dessert. Alan and Terri ordered Cappuccino, Chip and I ordered mint tea. A few minutes later the waitstaff appeared carrying trays of small cappuccino cups. I was about to announce that a mistake had been made I didn't order this cappu.....when what the hell.....it wasn't coffee at all. It was another dessert.
The French Laundrys' famous "Coffee and Donuts" a Cappuccino Semifreddo with Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnuts. Oh yes they did!
The mint tea arrived after that along with a wooden box that looked like a humidor, inside was a selection of amazing hand crafted chocolates. Quickly they were joined by a bowl of candied Macadamia nuts, and a bowl of wrapped chocolates.
The bill was settled; gratuity was included in the price. As we prepared to leave our servers gave each of us a small silvery box, filled with cinnamon shortbread cookies to take home "for later". Terri was given the cookies, to take home to the family and a packet of gluten free chocolates for herself.
And so we wandered out into the warm Spring evening, well fed, but not uncomfortably stuffed. Four totally blissed-out, contented diners hit the road back to Sonoma. I can truly say that the experience at the French Laundry is worth every penny. I have never, ever, had such a dining experience in my life. I'm very grateful to our friends Chip and Terri for treating us to this wonderful culinary experience. It was pay back for a culinary favor. Back in 2011 they happened to hit the crappy times jackpot. She was very seriously injured in a horseback riding accident just months after discovering she had a gluten allergy, and within two months of that he (a vegetarian) was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Having been there myself 23 years ago, the cancer part not the horse part, I offered to do cooking for the both of them during their treatment. Since a lot of Indian food is gluten free, naturally that part was fairly simple. His treatment however was a bit trickier. Because of his treatment he had to abstain from anything containing iodine. I had no freaking idea how many things iodine was in. Dairy? Iodine. Fish? Iodine. Bread? Unless it's made with kosher salt, iodine. Iodine seemed to be everywhere. Following a booklet from his doctors at UCSF I developed a menu of vegan, iodine free Indian foods for him, and baked artisan bread for him weekly since that uses Kosher salt which is iodine free. I loved finding solutions to his food cravings during those months, and especially dishes which they both could enjoy.
2 Years later I'm glad to say that with everyone healthy and happy once again, we celebrated with this wonderful meal. I'm definitely planning on going to the French Laundry once more, because as James Bond used to say. once is not enough.
Summer is coming. Growing up in San Francisco's Sunset District, those words had a bit of a different image for me than for most people.
You see, Summer in The City is not hot fun, hot times or any other song lyrics. Summer In The City was standing on my green painted (beyond fake grass) concrete "lawn" in a parka with gloves, waving a sparkler and hoping the fog didn't make it fizz out. We didn't have cook outs we had cook ins (rimshot) yeah, I got a million of 'em. Summer in my neighborhood The Sunset District looked something like this.
Try watching fireworks in that.
Of course when I moved to Los Angeles, I lived in Santa Monica blocks from the beach, so my summers stayed pretty much the same.
So you'd think spending summers in cities not known for blazing Summer weather would dull the appetite for ice cream. Not so. One of my fondest memories is taking an after dinner walk on chilly summer nights with my parents to Polly Ann Ice Cream on Noriega street about a 1/2 mile from our house. There wearing coats and jackets, sometimes a hat (I had delicate ears), the whole family would belly up to the bar and order ice cream cones.
So did moving to a real, genuinely hot Summer town like Sonoma dim my enthusiasm for ice cream? Not hardly. Whipping up ice cream for family parties and friends gatherings is one of my favorite things to do. But not everyone can enjoy ice cream, even if they want to. My friend Anne is lactose intolerant, my friend Terri is gluten free and just found out she's also allergic to eggs (except not duck eggs, sorry Daffy) and had to cut out dairy. This started me on a search for ice cream that my ice cream loving friends who have had to "break up" with ice cream could enjoy.
Let me say, there are a whole lot of vegan ice cream recipes out there. I'm not kidding. It's nuts out there. I found out that a whole lot of those recipes involved a very pricy blender device that seems to be all the rage right now and which I am too much a of a tightwad to buy. I finally settled on a very simple one that I'd found on many sites. And you know what they say, a million vegans can't be wrong. So, if you just want to make some vegan ice cream with a simple ice cream machine and a cheap ass 20 buck blender, this is your recipe.
Chocolate Almond Milk Vegan Ice Cream
Here's What You Need:
2 Tbs of sugar
2 Tbs of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 and 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
2 ripe bananas
Here's What To Do:
Mix 1/2 cup of almond milk together with the sugar and cocoa powder.
Pop it into the microwave for 30 seconds, then take it out and give it a good stir blending it together well.
Peel the bananas.
Break them up and put them into a blender along with the cocoa sugar mixture, and 1 cup of almond milk.
Blend it until it's smooth.
Pour the mixture into any ice cream machine and let it blend for about 25 minutes or until it's the desired thickness.
Serve it up.
The ice cream has a nice deep chocolate banana flavor and really can do the trick for someone who wants their ice cream but either doesn't want, or can't have all the fat, and dairy. This makes about 4 guilt free servings.
But be warned, this ice cream is best made and served directly. When stored in the freezer before serving it turns to icy stone. Truly. I found that out the hard way last Saturday night when I tried to serve it to friends. Good thing I had a back up dessert. This ice cream makes up so fast you can really just churn and burn and don't worry about left overs. There probably won't be any.
Coming up next, a book review and what's on for Mothers Day? Follow along on Twitter @kathygori
LA in the 80's was the homebase of Nouvelle Cuisine. Back in the day, the less that was on the plate and the more one paid for that less was the hallmark of being an LA foodie. In the 80's everything seemed to be about blackened anything, unborn baby vegetables, tiramisu and raspberry vinaigrette. Well, the rest of the food fads have passed on but my love for teeny, tiny perfect jewel-like vegetables, I can't quit that. I see them and I go weak in the knees.
I've got to have have them.
So, when I was at the Organic Farmers' Market here in Sonoma yesterday and saw these little gems, of course I bought them. I also picked up some collard greens, kale and spinach. I was wondering what I could turn these into that would be fast, easy and filling for our lunch. I also had another motive.
No one in our family is gluten intolerant but quite a few of our friends are, and since we entertain a lot I find myself cooking for a wide variety of food allergies. Cooking Indian food is actually a perfect fit for many of our friends. A lot of the dishes are naturally gluten free or vegan so no one has to eat something "special" and when everyone can dig into what's on the table dinner parties are more fun. I always ask about allergies before inviting someone to dinner, and during the week when I experiment with dishes, I usually keep a few friends in mind. This dish (actually a twist on a couple of Indian dishes I already make regularly) was created for Terri who's gluten free and vegan.
Turnips and Greens
Here's What You Need:
12 baby turnips, quartered
1 bunch of collard greens
1 bunch of kale
Salt
1 small bunch of fresh baby spinach
1 red onion finely chopped
1 serrano chili finely chopped
4 Tbs vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)
1 tsp of turmeric plus 1 pinch of turmeric
1/4 tsp of Amchur powder (if you don't have it substitute lemon juice)
1/4 tsp Kashmiri chili
1/4 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
1/2 cup of plain yogurt, or soy yogurt for vegans
A 1 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp of nigella seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp of fresh ginger sliced julienne
Here's What To Do:
Take the collards, and kale leaves off the stem.
Flash cook them in a pot of boiling water along with the spinach for about 2 minutes, then drain and pour cold water over them.
Press out the excess water and pulse them in a food processor, until they're finely chopped.
Set them aside.
Grind the 1 inch piece of ginger with the chopped serrano chili into a paste.
In a skillet or kadhai, heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.
When the oil is hot add in the nigella seeds and the ginger chili paste.
Stir fry them until the nigella seeds start to crackle in the pan, about 2 minutes.
Toss in the turnips, along with the ground coriander. 1 tsp of turmeric, 1/2 tsp of salt.
Stir everything around for about 3 minutes or so then lower the heat, put a lid on the pan and cook until the turnips are tender, about 15 minutes.
Set the turnips aside.
In a skillet or kadhai heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.
When the oil is hot add in the chopped red onion.
Stir fry the onion until it's lightly browned.
Add in the thinly julienned ginger.
Stir fry it for another minute.
Add in the chopped greens.
Add in a pinch of turmeric, 1/4 tsp of Kashmiri chili and 1/4 tsp of amuchur powder or lemon juice.
Stir everything together well and add in 1 tsp of salt.
Add in 1/2 cup of yogurt (or soy yogurt).
Stir until it's gently heated.
Add in the turnips.
Heat everything together.
Sprinkle 1 tsp of garam masla over everything, stir it in and serve it up.
These turnips and greens, paired with a rice dish, that's all she wrote, or all you need for a great Meatless Monday Spring lunch on the deck.
Coming up next, I get frisky with some gourmet vinegars and strawberry season. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori
