Lusciously delctable winter delights and other treats

I know we need the rain and everything but it sure has been sweetly restorative to bask in a few days of sunshine, ramping up the vitamin D intake before it goes away again for awhile. Been getting all kinds of yard play in, trimming and digging around in my backyard garden and I found all the arugula, parsley and chervil that we planted way back in the fall. Luscious salads are topping all kind of stuff round here from grilled fish and tacos to curry roasted veggies with tofu and feta. Cabbages are tightening up and cauliflowers are just peeking curmudgeon style, starting to give up the fight and just get big for us.

Broccoli and cauliflower are in peak season in Northern California, barraging taste buds with creamy bursts of ethereal bliss. Available year round about these parts, flavors really do change in these months possessed with dropping mercury. Preparations of these cruciferous gems at this time of year are impossible to screw up regardless of what you do rendering them as the stars of any show. (Although a friend of mine found an amazingly huge chanterelle while trimming his woods today that could give them a run for their money when I sauté slices in a little butter and green garlic to sit royally atop a few slices of roasted sweet potato barely showered with sea salt. But I digress.)


We picked a few giant heads of cauliflower from the College Park garden and sautéed them with some of Shantha’s spices she brought back from her trip home to India for the special day classes. They totally scarfed, no hesitation whatsoever about the spices. These kids actually planted this stuff, tended it, helped it grow and eat it! We also picked a ton of broccoli from the CP garden and are making soup on the quad for lunch tomorrow to hand out to the student body. Totally a rush having 2300 teenagers of varying ages and stages of maturity mob you wanting to get a sample of broccoli soup. We got them trained well round here. Just for your information they also mob us when we sauté beets and beet greens with garlic and olive oil and not only eat them but rave to us about them and want the recipe. We have a whole garden box dedicared to beets, Chioggia, red, yellow, whatever dang near ready for the young masses at CP to chow. They also mob apple crisp and carrot cookies or whatever bizarre enticements we can come up with to persuade them to make healthier food choices. Gentle persuasion. Hopefully a dram of that push is trickling down to the folks at home that really make the food choices.

There was a fascinating article in the New York Times magazine today by Christine Muhlke about fish, regulations, catch restrictions and limits, and ways of getting around decimating the fishing industry while still keeping a close watch on dwindling or endangered species. Focusing on this particular fisherman in South Carolina, Mark Marhefka, the article touched briefly on the interesting angle of community sponsored fishery where the community slash customers buy a share up front and get 2 to 10 pounds of fresh, locally caught fish a month that is sold to them by the guy that actually fished for it very much mimicking the CSA’s we see more and more farmers solidly embracing. He also sells commercially the fish he catches and works with colleges and scientist on issues of fish sustainability. It kind of comes down to familiarizing the consumer with some little known varieties of fish that in out parents day may have been considered sub par or junk fish. Brings to my mind the change in attitude towards beef cuts that in the past were considered too cheap to sell and are now on the menu’s of some of the best restaurants in the country. New restrictions on familiar fish such as snapper, salmon etc. could possibly introduce the savvy fish monger an opportunity to create a new fad for the competitive chefs vying for your dinner dollar out there.

I found a new citrus yet again this year at The Pleasant Hill Market at the corner of Gregory and Pleasant Hill Rd. Tahoe Gold tangerines. Big, seedless spheres, reminiscent of sweet pepper jelly on the tongue they are easily peeled with loose skin, a perfect foil for lunch boxes, brunch snacks and all around nice to keep a few with you in the car when bad urges may come upon you to sate yourself and keep doing whatever it is you are supposed to be doing instead of going to Coco Swirl for frozen yogurt.

Try to get a hike in before the next rains. I remember saying that to myself all last winter and it never did rain.


Cauliflower Soup
1 large head cauliflower, core removed and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
½ cup ½ and ½
½ teaspoon fresh curry powder or garam masala or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly caramelized. Add cauliflower and sauté for a few more minutes. Add stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes until cauliflower is soft. Blend with an immersion blender or in a blender cup and add ½ and ½. Bring back to a simmer. Remove from heat and season with spices, salt and pepper.
Makes 4 nice servings.
Alternatively add a large chopped yellow potato along with cauliflower and omit cream. Can be garnished with a nice grated cheese.

Broccoli Soup
8 cups chopped broccoli, about 3 to 4 nice heads
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
½ cup ½ and ½
1 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauté onion, celery and garlic in olive oil until slightly caramelized. Add broccoli and sauté for a few more minutes. Add stock and bring to a boil. Let simmer until broccoli is soft. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Add ½ and ½ and bring back to a boil. Remove from heat and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4 nice servings.
Alternatively add a large chopped yellow potato along with broccoli and omit cream. Can be garnished with a nice grated cheese.