Tomatoes and a New Year

This month we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and it gave me a chance to pause and think.

We have a simple custom on Rosh Hashanah called tashlich where we cast pieces of bread, symbolizing our sins of the past year, into a moving body of water. I love it. Tossing the bread into the river and watching it lazily float away clears my mind in such a tangible way. The past year drifts away and I’m left feeling calm and ready to just be in the moment and appreciate something simple. Like a tomato.

It’s mid-October already, but we still have tomatoes at the market alongside apples and squash. We’re in that glorious time of overlapping seasons. Our neighbors had an abundance of tomatoes from their garden and generously shared them.  I love neighbors.

While standing over the sink with a salt shaker in one hand and a juicy red tomato dripping in the other, I thought about what elaborate soup or sauce I could make with them. But then I tasted their sweetness. Rosh Hashanah is about sweetness, whether in food, family, friendships or new beginnings. Tomatoes are not your classic food for Rosh Hashanah (we traditionally dip apples in honey) but they are certainly sweet and become even more so when slow roasted.

Really, when roasted they’re like candy and I gobble them up. And they couldn’t be simpler to make. Slice the tomatoes, lay them on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, pop them in a low oven and wait for the magic.

The long, slow heat coaxes a rich, caramelized taste from the tomatoes and intensifies their tomato-ey flavor, filling your house with a heavenly scent. You can pull them from the oven when they’re still a little juicy and plump, or let them keep on roasting until quite dry and crinkly. You really can’t go wrong.

If you don’t eat them all off the baking pan (believe me, easy to do), these little gems freeze well for nibbling in January or keep in olive oil in the fridge. So if you’re lucky enough to still have some tomatoes left I recommend turning your oven on.

So simple it is. I guess I’m ready to say I’ve let go of summer and am well into fall, with its stunning blue sky, vibrant explosions of yellow and gold leaves and frosty nights (and snow in the mountains!). No great insights. Just a tomato. But the beginning of the year 5777 has been lovely, filled with sweetness and promise and I can truly say I’m content.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

3 1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise (or enough halves to fit on a rimmed baking sheet)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Place the tomato halves in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Roast the tomatoes for about 6 hours and up to 8, depending upon how juicy or dry you prefer them. They will shrink and start to crinkle around the edges. I like both the juicy and drier ones and will often remove some of the tomatoes after 6 hours and continue roasting the rest for another couple. The tomato flavor concentrates and sweetens and is just delicious.

Cool tomatoes and begin eating! Roasted tomatoes will keep well in olive oil in the fridge or can be frozen.

Chinese Long Beans and Tofu with Fragrant Coconut Sauce

Happy 2016! It’s been a long time. I know, I disappeared from this blog and have been pondering why. I looked back at my last post months ago and it was a such different time…since that time Isaac graduated high school, we moved to a new house and then evacuated a few weeks later due to wildfires, we brought a new puppy into our lives and said goodbye to our 18 year old dog, Sam and Isaac left for college, Aspen Grove has been busier than ever and I am in the process of finding a new balance and rhythm to life.

Process. Evolving, changing and embracing new.  The biggest change by far has been sending both boys off to college. I knew it would be hard, but it was harder than I expected. So there’s been a lot of process. I thought I had prepared well, and I did in many ways, but when I’m totally honest with myself I’m just not ready to be at this stage of parenting and life yet. It arrived too quickly. Admitting this is a bit of a relief, since I was pushing myself to be in a place I’m not. That’s ok. I know I’ll get there and in the meantime I need to be kind to myself and be realistic.

As I think about a new year I think it’s time to think about the blog and where I am now.  When I started it almost five years ago, I was writing as a mom with kids at home, about what I cooked for my family and friends in Seattle and the ways we celebrated Jewish holidays. When we moved to the Methow Valley, the plan was stay a year and then return to Seattle. But we started to take root.  I didn’t write as much here since I often felt like I didn’t know which end was up.  I mean, here we were living in a tiny cabin high above the valley, a dramatic change from life in the city. At times I had to ask, “What the hell am I doing?” Talk about leaping before you look. Life here is raw and inconvenient but richer and more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. And the roots grew deeper. I am a different person now. I’m more willing to take risks, to be bold and to say yes.  I’m excited for this new year. I have new ideas for the store, new things I want to learn (skate skiing and hunting for starters) and new opportunities for community involvement. And, of course, new things to cook.

Asian food has been topping my list lately. I really miss going out for sushi, hot and sour soup and pad Thai noodles. Whenever I’m back in Seattle, I stop at the local Asian market to pick up something to cook at home.  There’s a lot of home cooking here in the valley. We don’t have any Asian restaurants and no home delivery. If you want it, you have to make it. I’m good with that.

On one of these visits back to Seattle, Japanese sweet potatoes and Chinese long beans were my finds. Japanese sweet potatoes have a drier, firmer flesh and nuttier flavor than the more familiar orange sweet potatoes. Chinese long beans are indeed very long and stay nicely crisp when sautéed on high heat. I decided a simple dish combining these veggies with a flavorful sauce would be an ideal cozy dish for our snowy nights.

I created this spicy coconut sauce several years ago. The recipe slipped to the back of my ever growing folder of scribbles, but in a recent burst of purging I discovered it and pulled it out. Some of my favorite flavors are in this one…ginger, fennel, garlic and shallots with some brown sugar and cinnamon to add warmth.

The sauce needs to simmer for about half an hour, which gives you time to steam the potatoes and prep the beans. I tossed in some tofu but you could also add chicken or beef. Once the sauce is ready, you need only saute the beans quickly, add the potatoes and tofu and then pour the sauce over. As I’m writing this I’m thinking a handful of roasted peanuts would be a nice touch, too.

Over winter break, with Sam and Isaac home (hooray!), I’m happy to say I made some other Asian dinners - Bulgogi beef and pad Thai noodles. And, since there’s no Chinese food or movie theaters here for the usual Jewish outing on Christmas day, we made Kung Pao chicken and streamed a movie at home.

The past year has been emotional and wild and wonderful. I feel deeply rooted now in this valley with incredible people and breathtaking beauty everywhere I turn. My boys are launched and happy and now it’s about Bob and me, in our house on the river, with our dogs, entering a new year and new chapter together. I don’t know what’s next but I’m alive and grateful to be here.

Chinese Long Beans and Tofu with Fragrant Coconut Sauce
Serves 4

Grape seed or other neutral oil
1 big bunch (about 1 pound) Chinese long beans, cut in 1 inch slices
2 medium Japanese or orange fleshed sweet potatoes (1 ½ pounds total), steamed until soft but not mushy and cut into 1 inch cubes (I leave them unpeeled)
1 pound firm tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
Fragrant Coconut Sauce (recipe follows)

In a wok or large skillet, warm a drizzle of oil over medium high heat. Add the beans and stir until they are lightly cooked but still firm, about 7 minutes. Add the cubed sweet potatoes and tofu and gently stir to combine. Pour the coconut sauce over and heat everything together until warm. Spoon into bowls and serve.

Fragrant Coconut Sauce

1 can full fat coconut milk
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons chopped ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ lemon, squeezed for juice
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce or sriracha
½ cup sliced shallots
1 clove garlic, chopped

Combine all of the ingredients in a large sauce pan and bring to simmer. Stir and let simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the solids in a fine meshed sieve over a bowl. Discard the solids and set the sauce aside to use.

Dukkah-Spiced Carrot Latkes

A cozy season has arrived and we are blanketed in snow. Winter came roaring into the Valley unexpectedly a couple of days before Thanksgiving. Instead of the predicted rain, two feet of snow fell – heavy, wet and fast – and we had some adventures, including hiking in the dark up to our cabin when the car got stuck, a power outage and a tree falling over our road and blocking us in.  I woke the morning after to this view out our kitchen window.

I discovered that losing electricity in the winter is a little easier than the summer since we can melt snow for water and use a snowbank as a refrigerator if we don’t feel like pulling the generator out. I didn’t bake the pies I planned for Thanksgiving, but Sam made it home (hiking the last portion of the journey!) and we were all together, for which I was very thankful. Living here, I am continually learning to adapt and adjust my plans and expectations as I never know what will happen. So now in addition to snow tires and sandbags, we have headlamps and snowshoes in our cars and a chainsaw for fallen trees.  And we’ll keep shoveling!

The snow signaled the start of a festive season and December has quickly become a happy blur of busy days in the store, school concerts, gathering with friends and making holiday treats.  We are well into celebrating the eight days of Hanukkah and before the holiday ends I wanted to share some new latkes I made.

Latkes are small vegetable pancakes that are fried in oil and eaten during Hanukkah. Potatoes are the traditional vegetable to make them with but really, if you can grate it you can make a latke out of it, so zucchini, sweet potatoes, parsnips and even apples appear in latke form, too. With eight days of latke eating, it’s fun to try different varieties!

This year I made some with carrots and seasoned them with dukkah, the ingredient we are cooking with this month in our Tasting Jerusalem group. Dukkah is an Egyptian spice blend that is popular in the Middle East. The mixes may contain nuts, dried chickpeas, seeds and spices, and they all involve freshly roasting and pounding the ingredients. There are many variations and I’ve shared my own recipe here on Eating Rules, which includes almonds, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and salt.

After grating the carrots, I mixed in eggs, green onions, rice flour and a generous scoop of dukkah.  I heated oil (the main ingredient in Hanukkah cooking!) and fried small patties until they were golden and smelled fragrant.

I served with them with thick, plain yogurt and a pinch of dukkah and we devoured them. The latkes were crispy outside and soft inside, and the warm, earthy flavor of the dukkah blended nicely with the carrots and creamy yogurt.  A true Hanukkah treat!

Wishing you a very happy holiday season!

Dukkah-Spiced Carrot Latkes
Makes 8 latkes

1 pound carrots, scrubbed and grated (no need to peel them)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup green onions, finely diced
2 tablespoons rice flour (can substitute all-purpose flour)
2 tablespoons dukkah (recipe here)
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying
Plain yogurt for serving

In a large bowl, combine the carrots, eggs, onions, flour and dukkah and gently stir. Add some salt and pepper and taste. If you use salt in your dukkah mix you may not need anymore.

Line a plate with paper towels to transfer your latkes to when they are fried.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and pour enough oil to cover the bottom. When the oil is hot, add ¼ cup scoops of the latke mixture to the pan (I fried 4 at a time) and lightly press each to form small pancakes. Fry for a few minutes and when golden on the bottom and gently flip to fry the other side for a few minutes.

Remove the latkes from the pan and drain them on the paper towel lined plate (there won’t be a lot of oil, but you want to remove any excess so they don’t get soggy). Fry the remaining latkes and drain them.

Serve hot with dollops of thick yogurt.

Crispy Chocolate Bars

I love Halloween. Growing up, it was always a favorite holiday of mine – dressing up in costumes, spooky walks in the dark and then sorting and snacking my way through my bag of treats at the end of the night - loads of fun! Over the years, I watched my two boys create costumes, trick-or-treat through our dark neighborhood and gleefully dig into bags filled with candy.

Halloween this year is particularly nostalgic for me as it’s the last year I have a boy at home. While it’s been quite a few years since either of my sons knocked on doors for treats, having a child at home (even if he towers over me!) makes it extra special with candy corn, spiders and pumpkin carving.

I started thinking about some favorite childhood chocolate bars, and when I saw homemade crunch bars featured on Food52 last week they practically leaped off the screen at me.

A few years ago I realized I had not been giving milk chocolate the recognition it deserves.  I inhaled many (many) bars of dark, dark chocolate over the years and ignored milk chocolate in any form. Then I went to an evening of chocolate tasting and it all changed. When I saw we were beginning the tasting with discs of milk, I wrongly assumed it would be sugary and bland. After one small taste, I quickly learned otherwise. Good milk chocolate is rich, smooth and creamy, with hints of caramel. I kept tasting. Bliss.

So when making homemade chocolate crunch bars, I knew I had to use pure, good quality milk chocolate. I also decided to increase the decadence a bit and use chocolate crispy rice cereal. I stopped there with the tweaking, though. I wanted to keep it simple and resisted adding sea salt or cacao nibs, as I tend to do. This is an iconic childhood candy bar and you can’t mess with tradition. Instead, it replicates the original candy bar but seriously elevates it - none of the cheap, flavorless chocolate from the bars of my youth.

Crunchy, crispy and creamy, the puffed rice and rich, milky chocolate are dreamy together. A true classic. I pulled the pan of bars out of the fridge late at night to check them and started cutting off little slivers … be warned, this is dangerous. Many slivers later, I slid the pan back into the fridge.

Watching my younger son snack on these crispy chocolate bars this week warms my heart, and I know yet another treat I’ll be sending off to my sweet boys in college.

Crispy Chocolate Bars
Adapted slightly from Food52
Makes 1-9 inch square pan

20 ounces good quality milk chocolate, chopped bars or discs
3 cups chocolate crispy rice cereal

Line a 9 inch square pan with foil and set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a medium sauce pan over very low heat, stirring often, until it is creamy and smooth. Remove from heat when there are still a few pieces and keep stirring until they finish melting. You can also microwave the chocolate until melted and smooth.

Scrape the chocolate into a large mixing bowl and pour the rice cereal over. Using a spatula, gently fold the cereal and chocolate together until it is mixed.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and pop into the fridge for a few hours, or until firm.

Remove the chocolate from the pan by lifting the edges of the foil. On a cutting board, cut into desired sized bars and begin nibbling. Store the bars in a cool area.

Zucchini and Tomato Salad with Herbed Yogurt

We have entered a new season and, with Rosh Hashanah last week, the start of a sweet new year. After our summer of wildfires here in the Methow Valley, these stunning autumn days are welcome. Mother Nature is raw and fierce and beautiful in turn.

I’ve been busy chasing life this summer. I’ve made new friends and learned new skills. My new store is bustling and we recently launched a newly redesigned shopping website and I’ve neglected Blue Kale Road. Now, as we ease into fall and its sunny days and crisp nights I find a comforting time to reconnect with old friends. Although I try to slow down, our new season is already moving at a quick pace - Sam is back at college, Isaac is in his senior year, and life is full and good.

I love spiced pear cake at an autumn potluck, community gathering at a local cider pressing and seeing the first Delicata squash. We still have an abundance of tomatoes and zucchini at the market, though, reminding us that the best of summer is lingering for just a bit longer.

This month, the Tasting Jerusalem theme is to pick any new recipe from the book to try, so I chose a salad with tomatoes and zucchini in mind. Chunky Zucchini and Tomato Salad is a combination of grilled tomatoes and zucchini, stirred into an herby yogurt mix. Why I hadn’t tried this one yet is beyond me, because it is filled with so many of my favorite ingredients. First of all, the yogurt mix alone is truly fantastic and makes a tempting dip on its own. Fresh mint, parsley, chiles, garlic, walnuts, date syrup and lemon are stirred into thick yogurt. Divine.

The recipe calls for charring the tomatoes and zucchini on the stove top and then finishing in the oven, but since I’m looking for any opportunity to continue cooking outside I grilled the veggies on the barbecue.

The vegetables are then chopped and folded into the yogurt mix. I decided to serve the veggies and yogurt side-by-side in order to get the individual flavors as well as a mix of the two. In honor of Rosh Hashanah, I used pomegranate syrup instead of date syrup, which added a tart richness.

Crunchy, vibrant, creamy and bold, this is a gorgeous dish. It would be marvelous alongside simple grilled fish or make a hearty appetizer served with crusty bread. If you still have access to summer’s tomatoes, you won’t be disappointed.

Fall. It’s good to be back.

Zucchini and Tomato Salad with Herbed Yogurt
Serves 4-6
Adapted from Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

2 pounds yellow or green zucchini
4-5 large, ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups thick, plain whole yogurt
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1-2 fresh chiles, to taste (original recipe calls for red, but I had a jalapeno on hand and used that), seeded and finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup, plus more to drizzle (original recipe calls for date syrup, so if using date syrup increase the lemon juice to 2 tablespoons
2 cups walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped
3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
½ cup parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat a barbecue on high. Slice the tomatoes and zucchini in half lengthwise and brush with olive oil. Place the vegetables cut side down on the grill and cook until lightly charred and soft. Remove from the grill and let cool.

In a bowl, combine the yogurt and remaining ingredients and stir gently. Spoon the yogurt onto one side of a small platter or serving bowl. Chop the vegetables roughly and spoon them next to the yogurt. Drizzle with additional pomegranate syrup and garnish with mint. Serve immediately.

Collard Greens with Pickled Pears

An abundance of winter greens lies ahead! Eating locally during the colder months doesn’t offer nearly the bounty of the warmer seasons, but fortunately we have a wide variety of hearty greens such as chard, kale and collards to keep us going.

Around now, after a bit (or rather, a lot) of indulgent eating during the holidays, I am usually craving crunchy fresh greens and lately this salad of Collard Greens with Pickled Pears has been topping my list.

Eating collard greens uncooked in a salad was new to me until introduced by my friend Deb, a truly talented cook. She made Collard Greens with Pickled Apples and I think I had at least three servings over the course of our dinner together! Pickled apples? I was shaking my head wondering why I hadn’t thought of doing this sooner. I’ve since made the salad on a few occasions and this last time decided to use pears in place of the apples.

The sliced pears are steeped in a warm bath of apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and water. When ready to eat, they are tossed with thin ribbons of grassy green collards, a drizzle of fruity olive oil and a scattering of toasted seeds or nuts.

A tempting wedge of blue Stilton cheese (always tasty with pears) was on the kitchen counter, so I crumbled some in for a luxurious touch.

This hearty salad is a bold one – sweet and tart, crunchy and creamy. It is virtuous eating at its best and will deliver you into the new year happy and satisfied.

Wishing you all a delicious 2014!

Collard Greens with Pickled Pears
Adapted from Epicurious. com
Serves 4-6

3 medium sized, firm pears (I used red and Bartlett)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup pepitas or pumpkin seeds, toasted
1 bunch collard greens, stems removed and thinly sliced across into 1/4 inch ribbons
Olive oil to drizzle
Salt and pepper to taste
Small wedge of Stilton cheese, crumbled (optional)

Core and slice the pears into eighths and set aside in a heatproof bowl. In a medium sized saucepan, bring the cider vinegar, water, coconut sugar and salt to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears and return to a boil, then pour the whole mixture back into the heatproof bowl. Chill the pears uncovered for at least an hour. If using later, cover and keep cold for a day or two.

To assemble salad, drain the pears and reserve a few tablespoons of the pickling liquid. Gently toss the pears, seeds and greens together in a serving bowl. Drizzle on a little olive oil, add a couple tablespoons of pickling liquid, salt and pepper to taste and gently toss again. If using, crumble some Stilton cheese over the top and serve.

Chocolate Cherry Granola

We had our first snowfall of the season last week! We woke up to the hush of snow-blanketed ground and it was just beautiful. Of course, it also meant the chickens’ water was frozen so I needed to get one of those warmers to put their water container on, and Bob hung a heating light in their coop so they can be toasty warm for the winter months. We’re still adapting to living full-time in the valley!

One of our dogs, Boots, found the warmest spot in the cabin to spend her day. I think she’ll be spending a lot of time there!

The snow was a reminder that winter is nearing and, since we could easily be snowed in for days at a time, I’ve been filling our shed shelves with staples such as beans and grains for those snowy days we can’t make it out.

It’s also time to start thinking about holiday gifts, especially since Hanukkah begins the night before Thanksgiving this year. I like to give (and receive!) homemade gifts, and a jar of granola tied with a festive ribbon is always welcome. Granola is also something that can be made with those pantry staples, so I plan to keep a jar ready on the counter all season.

I’ve made many batches of my Blueberry Maple Granola, but this last time decided to mix it up a bit and made a chocolate version. I stirred together honey, coconut oil, vanilla, cocoa powder and a big pinch of flaky sea salt before mixing in oats, cacao nibs and chia seeds. After baking, a handful of dried cherries finished it off.

A scoop of chocolate granola is hard to resist for breakfast and I don’t expect it to last long. We’re expecting more snow this weekend so I may be making another batch soon!

Chocolate Cherry Granola
Makes about 4 cups

1/3 cup raw honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup cacao nibs
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the honey, coconut oil, vanilla and cocoa powder until smooth. Add the chia seeds, cacao nibs and salt and mix in. Gently fold in the oats until just coated. Spread the mixture out evenly on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake the granola for 9 minutes, stir the edges to keep from burning bake for another 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Stir in the dried cherries and store the granola in a sealed container at room temperature.