stuffed squash

This dish can be served hot or cold. If you plan to serve it cold, like a rice salad, you can prepare the squash and rice a day in advance.


Ingredients:
2 acorn squash
1 cup white rice
1 cup wild rice
1/2 an onion diced
1 package Gimme Lean sausage style
12 small unsulphered dried apricots
1/2 cup walnuts
2 + 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp orange juice
2 tsp soy sauce

Cut each squash in half length wise and scoop out any seeds. Spray inside with your Misto or cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare each variety of rice. Wild rice needs 3 cups of water for each cup of rice, while the white rice needs only 2 1/2. There are rice mixes that could be substitutes, Lundberg farms makes some that are pretty darn tasty. When both rices are finished cooking, about 40 minutes, mix both in a bowl and add 2 Tbs. of olive oil and mix well to incorporate so the rice does not become sticky. Set aside and allow to cool.

Heat up a little olive oil in a pan and cook the sausage, breaking it down into bite sized pieces with a spoon or spatula while it cooks. Add the chopped onion and allow to cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Rough chop the apricots and walnuts and combine with the sausage and onion mixture. Add them to the rices mixture. Add soy sauce and orange juice, mix well. Season with salt and pepper and place in the refrigerator. When the squash and rice are cool to the touch, stuff the squash and serve!

sweet versus spicy

So, we had a bunch of great fresh veggies left at the beginning of the week, and a block of tofu, but weren't in the mood for a stir fry. Do we want something spicy? Salty? Sweet? Savory? We couldn't really decide so we put it all into one dish- a little yin and yang if you will...

Ingredients:
Spicy tofu:
1/2 block super firm tofu, cut into quarters, either triangles or rectangles
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Sweet Tofu:
1/2 block of super firm tofu, cut into quarters, either triangles or rectangles
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder


Sweet Tofu: Combine liquid ingredients and garlic, mix well. Marinate the tofu in a container for 30 minutes to an hour. Make a little foil bowl on a cookie sheet (see above) and pour in the tofu and marinade.

Spicy Tofu: Combine all spices and coat each side of the tofu with the rub. Place on foil (sprayed with olive oil) on the same cookie sheet with the sweet tofu. Bake both together in a preheated 350 degree oven for 18 minutes, flipping once.


Ingredients:
Spicy Green Beans:
1 lb green beans, rinsed and trimmed
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp (or more) red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Orange Napa Cabbage:
1 head napa cabbage, cut into 1 inch slices
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp black and white toasted sesame seeds
salt and pepper

Orange Napa Cabbage: Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add cabbage and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Make sure to pay attention to sauteing cabbage as it is delicate and may burn quickly, just keep turning it and adjust the heat if necessary. The cabbage will lose about two-thirds of its volume after 5 to 7 minutes. Add the orange juice, drizzle with honey, and toss gently to incorporate. Remove from heat and reseason with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Spicy Green Beans: Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add green garlic, ginger, and chili flakes and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add green beans and toss until covered with spicy garlic and ginger goodness. Add water and cover, cook for 6 minutes until beans are steamed and bright green, checking every 2 minutes or so and giving a toss or stir to avoid burning. Season with salt and pepper and serve.


Here it is: Orange Napa Cabbage topped with Spicy Tofu, served with Sweet Tofu over Spicy Green Beans!

p.s.: There was an interesting article on CSA farms on Slate.com today. Check it out.

ranchero sauce

We are on a serious huevos rancheros binge lately. We ate them for breakfast both Saturday and Sunday and the craving is still not satisfied. So while the seitan stew was cooking, we decided to also make the most of our tomatoes and make our own ranchero sauce! Oh man, can I just tell you the entire apartment smelled like heaven when we were cooking this?

Ingredients:
1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved*
6 small tomatoes, chopped*
1 Tbsp butter

(*Note: This could also be done with 2 lbs. of any ripe tomatoes, or a 28 oz. can of peeled and diced tomatoes if fresh ones are not in season.)

Melt butter in a sauce pan set on medium heat. Add onions, and peppers, and cook until soft, approx. 4 to 6 minutes. Add tomatoes, and spices and simmer on low until sauce thickens and tomatoes are broken down, about 35-40 minutes. Now it is time for huevos rancheros, or enchiladas!


The sauce had a lovely sweetness to it because of the cherry tomatoes. To assemble the huevos rancheros we heated up four corn tortillas and layered each plate with one tortilla, two fried eggs, cheese, the other tortilla, ranchero sauce and more cheese. Served with a side of black bean and potato hash. The corn tortillas we used are handmade locally here in San Francisco. If you can find hand made tortillas you should definitely spend the extra dollar or two for them, you will not be sorry.

p.s.: This photo was taken with my new Ego lights which arrived today. Not bad, huh!?

p.p.s.: The night after we made this recipe we ended up going out and upon arriving home I (Kenny) was hungry. I took the remaining black bean and potato hash, put it on a tortilla, covered it with the ranchero sauce and a sprinkle of cheese and put it into the oven on 350 for 12 minutes. It was one of the tastiest late night snacks I have had in a while, and will definitely have me making this sauce again very soon. I cannot wait to try it on enchiladas!

seitan stew

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
1 onion, 1/2" dice
2 California bay leaves
1 head of celery, 1/2" rough chop
5 small carrots, 1/2" rough chop
8 small potatoes, cut into approx. 1" pieces
2 packages of White Wave seitan
4 cups of vegetable broth
3 Tbsp 2x concentrate tomato paste
1 cup water
salt & pepper to taste
1 bunch arugula, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 tsp liquid smoke

This recipe starts with a traditional roux. Melt the butter in large pot over medium heat and stir in the flour, stirring constantly until it is incorporated, and smells less like flour and more like buttered toast. Like so:

Next, add the mirapoux (carrot, celery and onion) and bay leaves. Saute 4 to 6 minutes until onions begin to turn translucent.

Add the seitan, potatoes, vegetable broth, water and 2 Tbsp of tomato paste. Simmer for 45 minutes.

When the vegetables are tender, add the arugula, remaining one Tbsp of tomato paste, herbs and spices to taste. Be very careful with the liquid smoke! It will give the stew a nice meaty flavor but don't go overboard- a few drops will do the trick! Serves six.

weekly delivery 10/08

Here is what came in our box today:

3 acorn squash


3 bulbs of garlic
2 bosc pears and 5 starkrimson pears
5 fuji apples
4 peppers
1 bunch of rosemary


1 lb of green beans
lots of potatoes
one beautiful head of napa cabbage


5 slicing tomatoes
1 bunch arugula

lemon shallot vinaigrette

Tonight we ate our leftover spicy pumpkin soup and threw together a salad. I know leftovers are not "blog-worthy" but I thought the dressing Kenny made for our salad tonight was fantastic so here it is!

Ingredients:
1 shallot, minced
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Mince one large shallot bulb, put all other ingredients into a bowl or shaker. Mix 'em up, season and serve.

weekly delivery 10/01

This week we switched from the Capay Valley box to the Regular box, honestly because we were kinda getting sick of okra and eggplant leftovers.

Here's what came today:

1 bunch crimson grapes
5 slicing tomatoes
1 bunch of radishes
1 big winter squash

A ton of potatoes

2 yellow onions

5 gala apples
1 pint of cherry tomatoes
5 starkrimson pears

I forgot to photograph the baby red leaf lettuce originally, so here is a photo of my tortoise eating some! Isn't he the cutest darling you've ever seen?


Over the weekend Kenny and I wandered into to the new CB2 store that just opened in Union Square and I wanted to buy everything in the store, but I settled for some just placemats to add some color and pattern to my photos. I like them all except I think the green- it does weird things to the color of the food.

I also bought these lights to help with shooting at night. Every food photographer's #1 rule is to shoot using natural light. Too bad for me cuz I'm pretty much always shooting at night, with the exception of the weekly delivery photos which I try to take as soon as the box comes Wednesday morning. I'm super excited to start experimenting with the Ego lights, they should be here next week!