Tangy Curried Cauliflower

You can make these delicious and vibrantly yellow florets with a favorite store-bought curry powder, or create your own fresh mixture of curry spices. I have tried both techniques, and both resulting ferments are delicious. However, the depth lent by freshly toasted and ground spices is perceptible, and worth the time, IMO.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of organic cauliflower (this will fit into 1 quart mason jar)

• 1 generous tablespoon of your favorite curry powder, or make your own blend! Here’s what I use:

• spices: 1 t teaspoon each of toasted cumin, coriander, fenugreek, 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns, 2 teaspoons of turmeric (plus anything else you might want). Put everything into a mortar and pestle and grind to a medium coarseness.

• 1 inch of fresh ginger root sliced into coins, 2 garlic cloves, sliced

• 2% brine (2 teaspoons in 2 C water)

• 1/4 cup of juice from any previous ferment (vegetables, sauerkraut, fermented pickles) - this is charmingly called “backslop”. This step is optional, but kicks the ferment into gear a little faster by adding a dose of microbes and acid.

Equipment:

glass mason jar and lid

mortar and pestle

cutting board and knife

skillet to toast spices

Technique:

• pull the cauliflower into small-medium-sized florets

• toast and grind your spices, or open your favorite jar of curry powder or paste

• slice ginger and garlic

• Put everything in the jar. You can be methodical, putting the spices in the bottom, then layering cauliflower followed by ginger and garlic, repeating up the jar, finishing with the cauliflower. Or just tumble everything in together. The ferment doesnt really care about order.

• Leave about 2 inches of clearance at the top, and then pour in the brine to almost cover the veggies.

• add your backslop to submerge your veggies. If you are not using a backslop, simply add more brine.

• put the lid on and turn it upside down a few times to shake it all up and distribute the spices.

• store the ferment in a safe spot, loosening the lid so it can expel CO2, one of the end-products of fermentation.

• taste in about 5-7 days, and when it is as tangy as you’d like it, tighten the lid and put it in the fridge.

These tangy morsels are great snacks, or served alongside a dal and rice. It’s a beautifully vibrant addition to a thali or regular dinner platter. Don’t discard the curry liquid! It’s great in soups than need some zing, or added to some olive oil to create a curry vinaigrette pre-loaded with acid, salt and probiotics!

Lacto-fermented Vegetables

This is an easy and basic technique you can apply to almost any vegetable. Lacto-fermenting the vegetables turns them into a live probiotic food, preserves them so they don’t require refrigeration, and boosts their safety and nutritional value. The microbes add vitamin B12 and K, and pre-digests some of the fiber. The ‘lacto-’ part means that a lot of the fermentation is performed by the microbe species Lactobacillus, among many thousands of other species. The microbes in the ferment metabolize the plant sugars to release lactic acid and other delicious byproducts, resulting in a tangy funky umami-rich flavor profile.

Ingredients:

Choose one or some of the following to equal a pound of vegetables (more is fine, you’ll just be chopping for longer).

Radishes (any color - the black ones are very metal), Daikon radishes (the purple ones are are trippy), carrots (any color, so rich!), red peppers, turnips, rutabaga, onions (red, yellow, green), garlic cloves, ginger coins, Brussels sprouts, fennel, Kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (red or green), celery root, baby bok choi, green beans, cauliflower chunks, even leaves like kale, collards, spicy mustard can go in. Herbs and spices are delicious and fun to add, so collect any or all of the following: cumin, coriander, black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, fennel, rosemary, lemon or other citrus zest. You’ll make your own signature flavor ferment.

Materials and equipment:

Regular salt*, water, jars with lids (any size - I use mason or ball jars with plastic lids), a measuring cup and measuring spoons, maybe a kitchen scale, chopping board, big and small knife.

Technique:

1) Chop the vegetables. Get creative and make shapes (hearts, flowers, triangles, squares…) and pack the veggies into the jars. Either tumble them in or arrange them artfully. You can layer them with slices of onion, or throw in handfuls of whole spices. Leave at least 2 inches of headroom at the top of the jar.

2) Make 2% brine (1 T salt/cup water = approximately 2%*) and pour it in to cover the vegetables, or you can get fancy and use an online brine calculator. Optional; you can pour in a dollop of liquid from a previous fermentation - sauerkraut, fermented pickles, yogurt whey - if you wish to give your ferment a boost. Not necessary though, You’ll create an environment for the correct microbe populations to thrive, boom and bust setting the stage for the next wave of microbes.

3) Put a lid loosely on the veggies and put them in a cupboard at room temperature. Wait 4-5 days, resubmerging the veggies every morning - keep them underwater, the microbes need an anaerobic environment. Taste them - when they are tangy enough to your palate, tighten the lid and put them in the fridge. They will continue to ferment, but at a much slower rate than at room temperature.

Some of my favorite combinations:

• white daikon spears with black peppercorns and red pepper flakes - put a spicy fermented spear into a martini (gin, of course) as a savory addition replacing an olive!

• coins of variously colored winter radishes pack beautifully into a jar

• purple-topped turnip rounds with red onion slices, black peppercorns, coriander and green onion lengths - amazing on a salad or with a grilled entrée

• green cabbage sauerkraut with outrageous pink watermelon radish hearts or triangles along the sides make a lovely gift

• halved dark green Brussels sprouts with whole cumin, coriander and black peppercorn

There are so many possibilities! Let me know what you discover!

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* Salt caveat: Salt (NaCl) is part of the environment you create to nurture the desired microbes and discourage the wrong ones (for example Clostridium Botulinum or E. Coli). If you are creating a ferment for a low-salt-person, you can decrease the brine concentration to 1% and add some sour/acidic cloudy liquid from a previous ferment - called “backslopping”. This immediately decreases the PH (increases acidity) and gives the desired microbe populations an advantage to out-compete undesirable competitors. Be assiduous about keeping the vegetables underwater, and monitor the ferment vigilantly. Your nose will tell you if anything is wrong.

In terms of food safety, fermented food is very safe. C. Botulinum and E. coli cannot survive in the low PH (acidic) environment rapidly created during the first phases of fermentation, such that the beneficials rapidly out-compete any competition.

turnips, celeriac and rutabagas from an overexuberant CSA share

Tart-sweet colorful Apple Berry Crisp

You just cannot beat an apple crisp out of the oven, unless there are berries involved. Not only does it boost the cheerful color of the filling, it enhances the flavor with a delicious tartness that complements the sweet apples, and boosts the nutrition value with extra fiber and phytochemicals within the berries. its also simple as all get-out to make. You can make it completely gluten free by choosing almond or rice flour to add to the rolled oats. I use as many organic ingredients as possible.

ingredients:

(pre heat oven to 350F)

Filling:

3 - 4 local organic apples, washed, cored and coarsely chopped into approximately 1-inch pieces

1 C berries, fresh or thrown in frozen (my fave is blackberries, but I have recently discovered black raspberries, which is rocking my crisp world. Raspberries or blueberries, or an entire mix would be awesome)

Crisp topping:

1/4 C butter (melt in a saucepan) substitute some or all with coconut oil - vegan option!

1/2 C flour - you choose: I use a mix of brown rice and almond. I have also used chestnut, wheat, cornmeal, it doesn’t matter because you are not trying to make something that will hang together.

1 C rolled oats

2-3 T maple syrup

(additional add-ins: toasted walnut pieces, substitute honey for the maple syrup, get creative!)

Put it together:

• Toss the apples and berries together in a glass dish

• add the topping ingredients together in the saucepan with the melted butter and mix until combined

• put the crisp topping on top of the fruit and then put the glass dish into the oven

Bake for 40-60 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the top is toasty brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or yogurt or kefir.

Cold apple-berry crisp with kefir is an amazing breakfast. Just sayin’.

Yogurt

Yogurt is a simple dairy ferment that requires a constant temperature for 100F/45C. Once that part is managed, the rest is dead easy.

Ingredients:

1 Q dairy milk (cow, goat, etc.)

2 T starter culture (yogurt from a previous batch, preferably local organic - the CoOp or farmers market are great sources)

Equipment:

thermometer

saucepan

yogurt maker/ environment that will hold 110F/45C for over 4 hrs, and up to 8.

Method:

• Heat milk in the saucepan to 180F for 20 min. This sterilizes the milk so the culture you add has a head start.

• Cool the milk to 110F, stir in the starter culture and whisk to incorporate

• pour the cultured milk into the yogurt maker and set for 6-8 hours. Do not jiggle or disturb.

• refrigerate until chilled

Kimchi

I’ve adapted this recipe from my friend Alex Lewin’s book Real Food Fermentation, Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in your Home Kitchen. I love how he writes, There are lots of pictures, and he gives lots of tips and troubleshooting for many ferments.. Here’s a link to check his book out on Amazon. Props also to my friend Hans Breaux, who has also shaped this recipe which is a work in progress.

Ingredients:

• 2’ish pounds of cleaned vegetables: chopped Napa cabbage, any other cruciferous vegetables in pieces (radish coins, daikon spears, bok choy, kale shreds etc. (I like to chop my radishes into fanciful shapes like hearts and flowers.) carrots, peppers… I make sure the bulk of it is crucifers. They are the best source of microbes.

• big bowlful, (or very clean 1/4-sinkful) of water, 1/3 C salt dissolved in it to make brine - it needs to taste quite salty!

• 1/2 head of garlic (3-4 cloves or more!), skinned

• 1 large or 2 small onions, chopped

• 1/2inch knob of ginger root, grated

• up to 1/2 C of Korean red pepper powder, red pepper or pepper flakes (** careful, to your taste) Or none if you are capsicum-averse.

• 1 tablespoon of sugar, or 1/2 an apple or pear

• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce (optional - this is why kimchi might need it’s own fridge) and/or fermented shrimp paste. To make it vegetarian, use soy sauce.

• a few scallions, chives or spring onions

Instructions:

• Put the chopped veggies into the brine and allow to sit 6 - 8 hours, or overnight. (admittance: I have also done it for 30 minutes and made successful kimchi.) Then drain the veggies. I just pull the plug out of the sink to remove the water, then re-plug to contain the veggies. The sink makes a great mixing bowl.

• In a food processor, blend garlic, ginger, onion, red pepper, sugar and fish sauce. add minimal water to blend easily in to a paste.

• Cut scallions attractively into diagonal 1 inch lengths, and add to veggie mixture.

• Add the paste to the veggies and mix thoroughly. You might want to use gloves depending on how spicy you’ve made your mixture.

• Pack into jars leaving 2 inches of space at the top, and press down to remove bubbles - liquid will rise to cover the veggies and might spill out as the ferment progesses, so I put my jars on a plate. This is an anaerobic (oxygen-free) ferment, so keeping the veggies submerged is important. You can put in some extra brine if necessary (1T salt to 1 C water) Close the jar lid (not too tightly, so CO2 may escape) and put into a cool dark place. I use a cupboard.

• Check the jars every day - I suggest doing this in the sink. Keep submerging the vegetables to avoid mold. Taste in a day or two, it will start to taste (and smell) like kimchi very quickly! Put it in the fridge to slow the fermentation to a crawl once it has reached the desired kimchiness (5-7 days for my taste).

Kimchi is yummy on salads, in soups, as an interesting sandwich addition - anywhere you’d use sauerkraut and more!

Broccoli Cheese Balls with Yogurt lemon sauce

2 C of broccoli

1 C of panic bread crumbs (or rice)

2 eggs

3/4 C shredded strong whole-milk cheese (cheddar, asiago, parmesan)

2 shallots, finely sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper

Mix all of the above, form into 1-2”balls and put them on a sided cookie sheet. put in a 390F oven for 10 minutes, then roll them around and bake for another 10 minutes, or to your satisfaction. serve warm with the lemon yogurt sauce.

Lemon Yogurt Sauce

2/3 C whole-fat plain yogurt (local and organic for extra bonus points)

zest of half a lemon, then the juice of the entire lemon

0.5 - 1 clove of garlic, minced

drizzle of olive oil to taste

Spinach Balls

from Candy Longyear:

Ingredients

• 6 cup fresh spinach leaves trimmed, washed (230 g) see note for frozen/cooked spinach

• 3 cup boiling water

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 cup grated cheese (60g) – I used Cheddar, use grated parmesan or grated emmental for more cheese flavor

• 1/4 cup fresh herbs of your choice, finely chopped I used cilantro

• 1 cup Gluten Free Panko Crumbs (75 g)

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

  Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to  350 F (180 C).

  2. Trim and wash the fresh spinach leaves.

  3. Place the leaves in a large mixing bowl and over with boiling water. Cover and set aside for 3 minutes.

  4. Rinse the spinach with cold tap water. Drain using your hands to squeeze all the remaining water. You should obtain about 2/3 cup (160 g) of packed cooked spinach leaves. If you are using frozen spinach, defrost and measure this quantity.

  5. Place on a chop board and finely chop the cooked spinach. Transfer into a mixing bowl.

  6. Add eggs, cheese, herbs and panko gluten free crumbs. You can also add salt and pepper if your cheese is not very salty. I did not add salt.

  7. Combine with a spoon or your hands, until it forms a batter from which you are able to form balls with your hands or use a small cookie scoop maker to avoid the mess

  8. If too moist add slightly more crumb until easy to roll as ball with your hands palms.

  9. Place the balls on a non-stick cookie tray covered with baking paper.

  10. Bake at 350F (180C) for 15-20 minutes or until golden on the top.

  11. Serve immediately or cold in luchboxes.

  12. Serve with dips of your choice like pesto, hummus or homemade ketchup.

  Recipe Notes

  Spinach measurement :  you need about 6 cups of fresh spinach. It makes about 2/3 cup (160 g) of cooked, squeezed and packed spinach. It is ok to use frozen spinach as soon as you have 2/3 cup cooked, squeezed, packed spinach.

  Cheese options: you can replace grated cheddar but mozzarella, parmesan, colby, emmental or any hard grated cheese you love.

  Herbs options: those spinach balls are very tasty with fresh parsley, dill or basil. Use your favorite herb or mix it!

Sweet Delicata Squash

I eat these like toast when delicata are in season. I have to bake 4 at a time, or I run out too quickly.

Cut delicatas in half, scoop out seeds and put cut side down on cookie sheet.

Cook in 350F oven until they squish when you poke them, about 30-45 min.

That’s about it. They are so sweet and vanilla-custardy, I just munch them down. I have also put my baked apples in them, put them in my morning yogurt, or sprinkle cinnamon on them. The seeds are nice toasted too. I toss them with olive oil and rosemary, salt and pepper and put them on another cookie sheet next to the squash. keep an eye on them – they burn. Listen for the popping sounds – then stir them and do it again.