I stopped by Ludgate Farms market a couple of weeks ago and found Anasazi beans, one of my favorites and a hard to find heritage bean variety. (A good online source is Adobe Milling in Colorado.) My score at Ludgate’s called for an extra special dish, and this Cassoulita won the Google Cooking award for the day. In fact, these turned out to be the most delicious beans I have ever eaten. (more…)
I found an interesting apparatus for making cultured vegetables called a Perfect Pickler. It takes four days to make a batch, and my first effort will be ready to eat today. I made a lovely pink salad mix with red and green cabbage, sliced carrots, seasoned with dill and juniper berries.
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5/25/2007 UPDATE: This recipe has now been updated to reflect further refinements. The result is a much more complex blend of flavors, with salty olives, avocado chunks and cherry tomato halves adding freshness, contrasting flavors and texture. This is still a favorite, and oh, so good for you!
I did my shopping at Weggie’s at 2:30am Thursday morning. Shopping in the middle of the night is great from the standpoint of crowd avoidance, but it’s NOT the time to look for fresh produce. The organic green veggie bins were completely empty except for one lonely little head of broccoli. It was in fairly good shape, so I brought it home and googled for a raw broccoli recipe. I found a “Broccoli Primevera [sic]” originally from “Delights of the Garden
One thing I hope to use this space for, is to explore some of the culinary traditions that have shaped my life. I grew up in a Seventh Day Adventist family, and as a 4th generation vegetarian, that culture certainly is the most important influence on my diet and lifestyle. I plan to write more about that in the future. Today, though, I made a simple dinner with food that comes from another deeply religious tradition, macrobiotics. I’m a relative newcomer to the macro style of cooking. But I love the rich complexity of flavors, and the simple elegence of this food with its strong Japanese influence.
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