Citrus Salsa

Sorry for the intermittent posting, folks, but I am trying to focus on my literary and personal lives as well as exercise and eating well. No time to blog!

Please accept this salsa recipe from Mark Bittman in today's New York Times - it's made with citrus. Substitute another orange for the grapefruit if you don't have grapefruit trees. There's still plenty of citrus hanging around our neighborhood gardens.

April 8, 2009
Recipe
Maya Citrus Salsa (Xec)

1 orange

1 small grapefruit

1 large lemon

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 habanero or other chili, seeded and minced, or to taste

Salt to taste


Cut orange in half horizontally and section it as you would a grapefruit; do this over a bowl to capture all its juice. Remove seeds and combine flesh and juice in bowl. Repeat with grapefruit and lemon. Stir in cilantro, habanero and salt.

We Made Marmalade!

Last Saturday the ladies of the Laurel District canning group got together for our first project: making and canning orange marmalade from foraged citrus.

We also preserved some lemons, Moroccan-style, for good measure. I brought along Claudia Roden cookbooks and we discovered recipes for chicken tagine with green olives and preserved lemon; sweet potato salad with preserved lemon, and artichokes stewed with the salty fruit.

Stella Lamb hosted us in her lovely, well-stocked kitchen. We divided ourselves into three teams, as there were eight of us, making three pots of marmalade: two bitter, with peel, and one sweet, without.

The afternoon was busy and entertaining; several of us remarked on how this activity reminded us of our grandmothers and mothers long ago, putting up preserves and socializing.

Joann Maggiore and MJ Barnes contributed equipment and canning know-how; Molly Stouffer brought scones and dashed out for more pectin; Sally went and got us more knives; Betsy and Katherine pitched in with peeling, chopping and stirring. People who contributed materials included Meg on Pampas and Dina Bedini.

We produced at least thirty jars of orange-lemon marmalade, plus several jars of preserved lemon which are curing in our kitchens right now. This project was lots of fun for me and the other women - we learned how to put up fruit, and we built ties to our neighbors.

There's talk of a sauerkraut party - I am not able to organize it myself at this time, but anybody who wants to move the project forward, feel free. We need a location and our sauerkraut teacher, Helayne, will discuss scheduling.

Thanks everybody for helping us make marmalade!

My preserved lemons aren't ready yet, but I'm going to adapt the recipe using regular Meyer lemons from our abundant crop; I'll also put it in the slow cooker - America's answer to the tagine. Note that any traditional tagine recipe works in a slow cooker.

Laurel Farmers Market

I just got back from the Laurel Farmers Market.

The take, all organic: rainbow chard ($1.50 a bunch) broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes ($1 each) potatoes (3 for $1), kale, honey and organic eggs ($5 a dozen). I had to read the honey labels carefully for the local California stuff - some of it was from Brazil.

For lunch we had steam-sauteed chard with garlic and lemon juice; leftover lentil soup.

Stay tuned for Moroccan and Middle Eastern recipes for our seasonal greens. I want to try cauliflower with tahini/garlic sauce. Also beets with yogurt sauce, and stuffed artichokes.

The dry goods counter is part of the information booth - they're selling dried beans, popcorn, and spices.

Adina Sara, the Imperfect Gardener of the MacArthur Metro newspaper, was buying greens too, and told me she has a memoir coming out this week! Titled, The Imperfect Gardener - life and the garden. I love her column - gardening for those of us who are NOT Martha Stewart.

Ice Cream Expedition

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday and we're celebrating tonight with a family dinner with my mother-in-law, after which he and I will go to Mills College for a concert.

This afternoon I needed to walk for exercise and my husband needed a break from the kids. Come on guys, I said, let's walk to Loard's and buy ice cream for Daddy's birthday dinner! They scrambled to put on their shoes.

We live about a mile away, since Loard's is technically in the Bret Harte neighborhood. Junior high students from our area walk there daily to the school across the street. In my childhood, everybody above the age of five was expected to walk such distances as a matter of course, to go to school, to visit friends or the library. Now we think it's "too far for the kids," but if we were on a family hike we would expect them to walk two miles. We took side streets, avoiding MacArthur Boulevard almost entirely.

If you're local, you know Loard's. The MacArthur @ Coolidge location is funky, even ratty-looking, and quite bare in decor at this point. But the ice cream... mmmmmm. Some Yelp reviewers claim it's better than Fenton's. I don't know, but it's good.

If you are in Orinda, you can enjoy your ice cream in a more refined atmosphere - the Loard's there has kept its 50s pink-and-white decor spiffy; it's probably what the Oakland location looked like fifty years ago. Whatever. We burned some calories and got some fresh air on our walk, and my kids enjoyed the time with me.

When you walk through the neighborhood you see the flowers in bloom: daffodils, plum and magnolia trees, irises. One neighbor's snow peas are heavy with pods that hang out of the fence over the sidewalk; many neighbors are blessed with abundant orange, lemon and even kumquat trees.

Also, more benefits of walking to the store - we met two children selling candy bars for the Laurel School, and ended up springing for three chocolate bars. I figure the kids deserve some chocolate at the end of such a hike. They each got a square on the walk, a square at home, and we're saving the rest for another day. I'm glad to contribute to the Laurel School's playground equipment fund.

Community happens when you take a walk.

Frugal Cassoulet

Mark Bittman used to be a far-leftist community organizer. He's a top food writer and personality now, but he still holds onto his communitarian values. This week he cooked with kids at a charity event in New York, and published his recipe for a cassoulet that has less meat, more vegetables, and is good for the planet as well as your purse.

Farmer Joe's carries smoked pork chops sometimes, and always has smoked turkey legs. You could use any sausage in this recipe. Bittman further gives you the option to use cabbage instead of zucchini - a good thing, since cabbage is in season and local.

This recipe is similar to the supper soup I posted yesterday, although mine was more about kale than beans or meat - one starving sausage in the whole pot.

Hungry in the 'Hood?

The New York Times reports that food pantries nationwide are swamped with new faces, people who have recently lost jobs and don't have a good system yet for keeping the cupboards and bellies full.

Read the article and consider what you would do if suddenly unemployed. How long would your savings hold out? Storing food you eat anyway, in quantities enough to last you two weeks to a month, is another way to protect yourself against economic trouble.

Our own Fruitvale Presbyterian Church gives away free food as part of the Community Outreach Pantry Emergency (COPE). Second and fourth Saturdays each month, from 11 a.m. to 12 noon.

On the last Thursday of the month, another local church (pardon me about the name, I'll update when I get out there and check) gives away free food from a storefront on 38th Avenue, just in from MacArthur Boulevard.

My child's school is running a "Pennies for Peace" fundraiser to benefit children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We contributed already but had found more pennies. I am thinking of giving those, the daily change jar, plus the freshly-laundered dollar bills my children leave in their pockets, to either Fruitvale Presbyterian or the Alameda County Food Bank. It's very nice to send pennies to Afghanistan but our neighbors' children are hungry, too.

And remember, what goes around, comes around. Give now if you can spare it. You never know when the empty belly might be your own.

Best Foods You Aren't Eating

The NY Times published a list of "Eleven Best Foods You Aren't Eating" last year that's still bouncing around the internet. I only saw it this week, and I love it.

The list made me think of two favorite obsessions: our local produce, and what to keep in the pantry.

Fresh in season right now and available at Farmer Joe's, House of Produce, Food Mill, and the Laurel Farmer's Market:
Beets - lower blood pressure
Cabbage - strong anticancer properties
Swiss Chard

Pomegranates went out of season a couple of months ago, but the fruits grow locally, and of course you can still buy bottled pomegranate juice. I want to plant a bush in my garden.

Dried plums - if you have a dehydrator, you could harvest plums for free in late June and make your own. Or buy them.

Frozen blueberries - not local at all, but of course Farmer Joe's and Food Mill have them, organic natch.

Pumpkin seeds - available in the Hispanic spices rack as well as in the bulk nuts and seeds departments. Look for pepitas.

Canned goods: Pumpkin and sardines. Don't leave home without 'em! Remember my pumpkin tahini recipe? And there's always pumpkin pie, and pumpkin muffins or pancakes. Pumpkin soup! I also like sardines and use them for fast protein.

Spices: cinnamon and turmeric. Look for Ramos brand spices at Farmer Joe's; they also stock various organic and non-irradiated brands for good prices. I like Food Mill for bulk spices and tea as well.

So scan this list and see what you aren't eating. If you eat all of these already, then congratulate yourself for making good healthy choices. Then notice that you can buy everything in the neighborhood.

What's for dinner: supper soup

Years ago I learned to make supper soups from Pamela Anderson's "How to Cook Without a Book." This is a terrific collection of recipes using rules of thumb for every dish, like stir fry, or pan-seared proteins, or supper soup. She offers a basic recipe, variations, and memory aids so you don't have to crack open the cookbook. You can also look in your pantry and see what you have, adapting the recipes accordingly.

Supper soups include a pound of veg, a starch, a pound of protein, a quart of stock, a can of tomatoes, an onion and other flavorings.

Today I didn't have a pound of protein - I had one Polish sausage. I didn't have a quart of chicken broth so I threw in a Knorr bouillon cube. I used a bunch of kale and lots of garlic - we were out of onions! (horrors. How can I say I'm ready for the Big One if there are no onions in the house?)

Saute garlic and peeled diced carrot in olive oil. Add a 14 oz. can of tomatoes, half pound of green beans, snapped, and a bunch of kale with ribs removed, chopped. Add water to cover, bring to boil, then simmer until the greens are tender. This is going to take a while. Towards the end I sliced the sausage and drained a can of garbanzo beans and added those. Tasted the broth, decided to add the chicken cube.

Hubby says he really liked it - he sprinkled parmesan cheese on it, which added a fillip of flavor and mouth-feel.

I wouldn't serve this to company but on the other hand, it was flavorful and warming on a rainy winter's night. I also made a couple of quesadillas to fill the children's hungry bellies, while I scarfed down a couple of homemade wheat rolls left over from last night.

My Food Files Online

I have been hanging out on the internet a very long time, and have published more than a few of my favorite Lebanese, Palestinian, Sephardic, Egyptian and miscellaneous recipes.

Baba Ghannoush - roasted eggplant dip

Baba Ghannoush Souffle - roasted eggplant souffle

Black-eyed Peas and Spinach

Bulghur and Tomatoes - Sitteh's recipe

Carrot Salads - Two Moroccan Recipes from Claudia Roden

Chicken in a pot

Dried figs preserved in geranium syrup

Egyptian Red Lentil Soup. The most famous red lentil soup on the internet. Sometimes.

Grape leaves

Hummous - chickpea and tahini dip

Heshwah - spiced meat and nut mixture for rice pilaf or stuffed vegetables

Kafta in a tray with potatoes - roasted spiced ground meat

Kibbeh - ground meat & cracked wheat with onions and pine nuts, baked

Kusa bi Jibneh - Arab or Sephardic zucchini and cheese gratin

Lentil Soup with variations

Lebanese Mezze 101 - tips for putting on a basic Lebanese appetizer meal

Lubia Matbookha - Green beans and meat stew

Mjaddarah - lentils and rice with caramelized onions

Pumpkin Tahini - from Clifford Wright

Roz bi shaghria - Rice pilaf with vermicelli. Pictured here, covered with heshwah.

Spiced baked chicken - Moroccan flavors, American recipe

Stuffed cabbage

Tabbouli - parsley and bulghur wheat salad

Preserving fruits and vegetables with friends

We are organizing a neighborhood party - or series of parties - to make fruit preserves from our extensive trees, and pickle sauerkraut and possibly lemons.

This district is blessed with so much fruit that goes unharvested. In summer there are too many plums - the fruit falls off and goes sticky on the ground. I often think it would be good for the environment and my purse to turn some of the windfall into preserves we can eat or share.

I posted about it on the neighborhood email list and got replies from twenty people who like the idea. Some of us don't know how to make jam or marmalade, others of us would prefer company in the kitchen. So we are organizing dates for beginning of March, April and then late June.

Post a comment if you would like to join us.

UPDATE: I was browsing Robert Van Der Walle's blog (Sustainability, out of North Oakland). He just hosted a sauerkraut party not long ago! I know I read about it then but I forgot. Chemo brain. (For those of you who don't know, I was in chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer from November '07 to September '08, still recovering, have mental blanks sometimes).

Clearly I got the idea for the food preservation parties from permaculture blogger and activist Bob Van Der Walle. Thank you, Bob!

Think Global, Eat Laurel

You may know the old slogan: Think global, act local. It drives the work of many in the Laurel, those who: build community gardens, work on behalf of the schools, shop local, ride their bicycles or take public transit, install solar panels, and more.

Our local choices affect global issues. Food choices in particular affect climate, pollution, the environment, social justice and culture.

This blog's motto reflects the concept of think global, act local. I aim to post about not just eating in the Laurel, but many other actions we take in our daily lives here that affect us in our homes but also affect our society and even the planet. It's a big topic, sure.

Foraging for food at this blog will mean going to Walgreen's as well as Farmer Joe's, visiting the Food Mill, the farmers' markets, and Lucky's. I plan to go to International and Foothill Boulevards and other areas of Oakland, looking for good food and signs of community and sustainable living.

Merritt College up the hill from us has a distinguished horticulture program, with many classes on permaculture. Check this blog for news of plant sales and other events.

I will post on earthquake preparedness and food security, solar ovens, and plenty of other issues that seem related to living sustainably here in the Laurel. Please check in regularly, and post your comments below.

Welcome to Forage Laurel!

Think global, eat Laurel



Welcome to Think Global, Eat Laurel, a blog devoted to food, gardening, food preservation and more in Oakland's Laurel District.

We live in an urban neighborhood full of gardens; our bus lines can take us to San Francisco, our email lists are full of "lost chicken" notices. Gardeners, beekeepers, poultry ranchers, permaculturists, bicycle activists, high tech workers, artists, writers, musicians, tradespeople, teachers, civil servants, laborers and scientists live in our neighborhood. We are one of the most diverse zip codes in the country. Our weather is terrific, a Mediterranean climate, and our yards are full of trees and plants that bear fruit year-round.

This blog will be a gathering place for Laurel District foodies: people who want to can produce, people who garden, people who like trying new restaurants and want to gossip about the latest, people who forage for food and people who forage for information on how to live a sustainable, pleasurable life here in 94619.