Persimmon Bread

N. occasionally likes to volunteer with an awesome organization, Village Harvest, that picks excess fruit from backyards in Silicon Valley and donates it to the hungry.  However, only perfectly intact fruit is accepted by the food banks.  Anything damaged is kept by the volunteers.  This is how we ended up with lots of mildly imperfect hachiya persimmons:

Due to the quantity of this loot, we immediately started looking for ways to use persimmons in baking.  This is how we came across James Beard's persimmon bread recipe, as adopted by David Leibovitz:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/11/persimmon-bread/

In the process making this, we learned that the hazelnuts we have in our fridge are actually super delicious when roasted :)

The final result is extremely rich, moist dessert bread that has strong hints of whisky:

Deep Chocolate Brownies

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Deep-Chocolate-Brownies-242608

Brussels Sprouts Fricasse

On a tip from a friend, we came across this recipe:

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=715063

It was based on a dish from this video (~12 min in):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GokR2C9wy0

As a work in progress:

Remade on:

2013-12-1

2013-12-8

2014-1-2

2016-10-29 (we thought lemon juice might be a nice idea)

Fresh Dungeness Crabs

N. bought three live dungeness crabs of a boat Pillar Pt Harbor today ($6/lb - 5lb).  They made fun pets for a bit, as they struggled to climb on top of each other in the cooler that served as their temporary aquarium in our kitchen.  After a couple hours, the activity level in the cooler rapidly decreased.  It was time to turn pets into dinner.

J. cooked them, using the following as a guide:

http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/flavors-of-the-west/dungeness-101-how-cook-crab-00400000024256/

Here's J. getting ready to cook one:

Here it's getting pushed down into our largest pot, with a vegetable steamer below it:

A cooked crab:

A gutted and halved crab:

They were served along w/garlicky chili butter.

Remade on:
2014-12-14 with three 2lb+ crabs

Sauerkraut

N. likes to ferment things. She has previously tried making sauerkraut, and was quite pleased with the results. (J was not -- he is not a sauerkraut fan, though.) Her method is taken from the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz.

Ingredients:

One head of cabbage

One carrot

Some salt

Some caraway seeds

Method:

Shred the carrot and cabbage with the food processor, using the slicing disc attachment for the cabbage.

Season with caraway seeds and salt

Pack ingredients deeply into a glass jar, pressing them down firmly as each layer is added

Place a heavy weight, e.g. as smaller bottle full of water, inside the jar, to ensure that all the cabbage is submerged in its own brine.

Cover with a clean cloth and secure cloth with a rubber band.

Leave the filled jar for 1-4 weeks before eating. Feel free to sample a bit along the way, as tempted.

Update: On Nov 30, 10 days after the fermentation began, the sauerkraut was amazingly delish.  Thus, it was jared and refrigerated.

Remade on:
2013-12-8 this batch, sadly, went bad, possibly due to insufficient salt :(
2014-1-9

Apple Oven Cake

We hosted a party this fall.  As decor, we bought large red apples.  They looked shiny & cute, but their taste left a lot to be desired.

Soon after the party, N. came across this recipe in an old issue of Sunset, and a use case for the sad apples was found:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/apple-oven-cake-10000001924665/

The apples were sliced:

Sauteed in cinnamon butter:

And turned into a delish frittata-like entity.  The lemon juice was key to good taste.  A bit less sugar would have been ok.

Pork Shoulder - Sunday Roast

J. decided to brave the pork shoulder roast again today.  This was roughly the recipe that was followed:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Six-Hour-Pork-Roast-102530

The project started with 6.3lb bone-in fat-on pork shoulder (Boston Butt):

The pork stayed in the oven for 5.75 hours.  In the last hour, potatoes and brussels sprouts were added to the pork juices:

The final results were delicious:

Remade on:

Feb 21, 2016

Kale Chips

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/soy-sesame-kale-chips-50400000121018/

Remade on:

2013 -11-28 for Thanksgiving at the S. household; popular with 3 toddlers

Weeknight Gazpacho

Made something inspired by this:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/easiest-garden-gazpacho-50400000126552/

Added some ingredients from this one (evoo, oregano, etc.):

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Moms-Gazpacho-105096

Served with BCT (cucumber in place of lettuce).

Cornbread

In anticipation for tomorrow's pig fest, we decided to make cornbread.  We chose a fancy 'Science of Good Cooking' recipe that involves putting fresh corn kernels into the batter.

Here's the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/the-perfect-cornbread-203776

It was so delish, we could hardly hold off on eating it.

Remade on:

2013-11-28 for Thanksgiving at the S. household

2014-11-26 for Thanksgiving at the S. household (made the formal version as above, and a casual version with chopped fuyu persimmons in place of corn kernels)

Baked Mini Potatoes

We got some little red baby potatoes at the Farmers' Market on Saturday and decided to prepare them simply for Sunday's breakfast:

They were sliced in half, covered in grapeseed oil & salt, baked at 400F for ~40 min, which may have been a hint too long.  Served with cilantro pesto from the Afgani stand at the Farmers' Market.

Whole Rockfish

We went down to Half Moon Bay today to buy fish straight off the fisherman's boats.  In addition to a salmon, we got a couple little rockfish creatures that you're apparently supposed to bake and consume as a whole fish.

The first step was a backyard de-gutting exercise:

 

Next, we baked it with thyme and garlic.  We were somewhat inspired by this wacky video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6BAkvsTW4I

And voila, final table side presentation:

Strong Fish Stock

We went to Half Moon Bay this morning and bought several whole fish directly from fisherman on boats.  We called the salmon 'George' and J. proceeded to fillet it in our back yard:

This generated a lot of tasty looking bones and fish scraps, so we were inspired to make this:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Strong-Fish-Stock-105266

It appeared that our stock was not as strong as we were hoping for, perhaps due to the large amount of water that was required to cover the bones in our wide pot.

The stock is currently sitting in our freezer, awaiting a perfect use case.

Carrot Raisin Muffins

One of our cooking goals is to make at least one recipe from every cookbook-like entity we own.  Issues of 'Sunset' magazine count as cookbook-like entities for the purpose of this goal.

When the April 2013 issue of Sunset arrived, I was disappointed to see its heavy focus on gardening, with reduced food sections.  Who cares about gardening?  Thankfully, it also had this muffin recipe, so we're able to meet our goal and use some of that whole wheat flour that's been taking up fridge space!

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/miracle-carrot-muffins-50400000127223/

They turned out quite well, although a couple more min of baking would not have hurt.

Remade on:
2013-5-17
2014-5-18

Veggie Bacon Frittata

Random weekend morning inspiration.  Loosely based on this:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/artichoke-leek-fontina-frittata-10000001622435/

Our substitutions:
- slightly antique chard leaves instead of leeks
- red pepper instead of artichokes
- no fontina

It spent about 8 min in the oven & turned out quite tasty!

Remade on:
2015-03-30 for a backyard group brunch

Steamed Artichokes a la Darya

We were driving back from Monterey after J. got his scuba certification there.  It's almost a tradition to stop by the produce stands on the way back.  We loaded up on hyper-local Castroville artichokes, and Darya was kind enough to tell us what to do with them:

http://summertomato.com/how-to-make-and-eat-a-perfect-steamed-artichoke/

Remade on:
2014-05-03 with a different artichoke varietal (from N.'s coworker's garden), served with garlic aioli:

Tuscan Pork Belly

From the pork belly obtained in J.'s pig butchery class:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/24814/tuscan+roast+pork+belly

We shortened some of the steps, like the marinade time.  It came out a bit tough for pork belly, but still tasty.

Hearty Chicken Curry Soup

N. randomly found curry power in the office's kitchen:

We had a bag of Bob's Red Mill Grains & Beans soup mix lying around.  Recommended on its back was chicken curry soup:

 Naturally, we added chard and used celery as an onion substitute.

Recipe:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes_detail.php?rid=1686

Cooked Salad Improv

This meal was inspired by the purchase of 'Stir Fry Greens' at the farmers' market:

 

Salad Components:

- bag of stir fry greens (kale, chard, related creatures..), de-stemmed
- chicken sausage
- red bell pepper
- hard boiled egg

Dressing Ingredients:

- EVOO
- wine mustard
- lime juice

Fry all the salad ingredients that need frying, preferably in bacon fat.  Swirl dressing together; top salad.

Popcorn

Made this a couple times topped w/butter, salt, & flavorful powders (smoked paprika, cumin):

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/

Kanom Krok sadness

This attempt to use our Ebelskiver pan for "anything else" did not go well:

http://importfood.com/recipes/kanom_krok.html

The filling never solidified despite cooking for well longer than the recommended time. We noticed after the fact that other recipes called for something to thicken the filling, while this one did not. The addition of corn starch didn't help much, however. Also, J thought they were too salty. But J wasn't very excited about making them in the first place.

Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts and Bacon without Chestnuts

We didn't have any chestnuts, but had the rest. Thus, this:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/brussels-sprouts-chestnuts-bacon-50400000124491/

This was pretty good, although we felt that the texture of the Brussels sprouts suggested that 6 minutes of boiling was too much.

Pork Stew with Potatoes & Chard

Pork Stew loosely inspired by this recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pork-Stew-with-Fennel-and-Butternut-Squash-107648

Our version:
- chard instead of fennel
- potatoes instead of squash (added before going in the oven)
- chopped fresh serrano instead of cayenne 

Miso Soup

It turns out that the key to miso soup is tons of seaweed and bonito flakes, strained.  Thanks, Elliot.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Miso-Soup-105492

Accompanied by roasted pork loin and unfortunate chinese long beans in black bean sauce.

Roast leg of lamb + brussels sprouts

Dinner with David & Katie.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/rosemary-and-garlic-roast-leg-of-lamb-recipe/index.html

- Cooked to 145° using the meat thermometer. Found that left things a bit raw

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pan-Browned-Brussels-Sprouts-100868

- Paired with roasted feta

Curried Lentil Stew w/Chard

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Curried-Red-Lentil-and-Swiss-Chard-Stew-with-Garbanzo-Beans-233385

Used curry powder made from this:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/curry-powder-blend-recipe/index.html

Substituted chopped chard stems for onions.  Added garlic.

Remade on:
01-26-2013
03-03-2013

Green Smoothie

Spinach, Pineapple, and Ginger Smoothie

3/4 c nonfat, plain Greek yogurt

1/2 c frozen pineapple chunks 

1/2-1 cup spinach leaves

1/4-1/2 cup coconut water

1 Tbl ground flax seed

A 1/2-inch chunk of fresh ginger

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

Remade on:
01-13-2013

Hot and Sour Mushroom Soup

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/hot-sour-mushroom-soup-50400000125936/

We made a number of substitutions in our interpretation of this soup:

- chicken stock instead of vegetable stock

- fennel instead of bok choy

- added soba noodles