Barley and Kale Grain Bowl

It's a new year and I'm giving my kitchen a revitalized injection of activity. Well...later. I'm house/dog sitting right now and I looooove noodling around in other people's kitchens. I have been talking a lot, to no one in particular, about making more grain bowls in the new year. I'm fortunate to spend 40 hours a week in this awesome foodie market...

..where I sell my favorite food on earth. Cheese.
From time to time there's staff produce available that's not quite purdy enough for the paying guests, Last week I salvaged some limp kale, marjoram, thyme and rosemary. Then they sat in my fridge for another week, waiting for me to get my act together and cook up the grains and lentils. 

Grain bowls are a great way to use up last nights limp salad or wilted greens or leftover taco fixin's. They're infinite in possibilites and flavor packed. Along with  little foresight  to cook and freeze a boatload of grains and legumes, assembly is a breeze. Make a big batch because it's even better the next day.

Delicious. Healthy. Economical. Versatile. Awesome.

The key is balance.
You want some acidity, sweetness, savoriness, salt and a bit of spice. The other component is texture, creamy, chewy, crunchy...so you've got your grain, legume, greens, cheese, nuts or seeds, dried fruit (or fresh) and a melange of herbs. What. Ever.
This bowl started with a pantry clean-out unearthing a bag of pearled barley from a market that went out of business a year ago along with a bag of puy lentils of indeterminate age.
I cooked each separately in chicken bouillon, let them drain and cool a bit then spread each out on a sheet pan and placed them in the freezer for about 30 minutes just until frozen. Transfer into 2-3 two cup freezer bags.
When you're ready to  prepare your bowl, dump the frozen barley into a large strainer, rinse under cold water and break any chunks apart. Place into a microwave safe bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and puncture a few holes with a fork. Microwave for one minute, give it a stir and then let it go for another minute until it's just warm, not hot. Toss in dressing and let sit for about 15 minutes. While the barley is resting, warm up the frozen lentils in the same manner.

Make your favorite dressing. Here's mine:

olive oil
red wine vinegar
lemon juice
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
Dijon mustard
fresh chopped marjoram and tarragon

Into the bowl:
kale cut into a thin chiffonade, add some of the dressing, toss and  coat it really good. Use your hands to massage it a bit, then add:
warmed grain and legume
caramelized onion or chopped red onions or crispy fried shallots
chopped nuts and or seeds (I used a nut/dried cranberry mix from Trader Joes)
crumbled feta or goat cheese (I used a cranberry orange goat cheese-it added a lovely citrusy tang and a touch of sweetness
fresh herbs ( I had fresh marjoram and tarragon on hand)
a hard boiled egg or two ( or some shredded chicken)

Mix everything together and if you can stand it, let it sit for 30 minutes the flavors get a chance to meld.
Finish with some slices of avocado on top and you're good to go.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apples & Bacon

I'm auditioning brussels sprouts for a potential role in my Thanksgiving contribution this year. Brussels sprouts are a relatively uncharted territory for me as I was one of those haters for most of my life. I began my conversion a couple of years ago when I came across a very simple recipe in one of Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbooks. The photograph was delicious and I'd been trying to broaden my veggie horizons by focusing specifically on vegetables that I'd thought I hated (eggplant and squash rounded out the top 3 vegetables I've managed to avoid all my life). The brussels sprouts were pretty darned good. I felt accomplished, adventurous, and virtuous. Then I moved on.

In preparation for the upcoming holidays, I was asked if I'd be up to bringing a home made holiday dish to a staff meeting at the market and talk about how to shop for it and how to prepare it, providing printed copies of the recipe. This is an example of how we live Bi-Rite's mission statement: Creating Community Through Food.

The first thing that came to mind were brussels sprouts. I don't know why, because I've never prepared them since that first time but it seemed like the perfect occasion to revisit.

So, as usual, I embarked on a recipe Google-thon and landed on two recipes that morphed into this:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples & Bacon
adapted from Michael Symon at cookingchanneltv.com
and backtoherroots.com

1 ½ pounds brussels sprouts-trimmed and halved*

1  large tart apple, such as a Granny Smith or Pippin-cut the same size as the brussels sprouts

8 ounces slab bacon-cut into ¼ “ lardons (cubes)

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Pre heat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, toss the brussels sprouts and apples in 2 tablespoons of olive oil using your fingers to get all of the pieces coated. Transfer onto however many sheet pans you'll need so you can spread the pieces out so they are in one layer and not touching each other. You may need to roast in batches to achieve this. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

When roasting vegetables it’s important not to crowd the pan or else everything will just steam and not brown.

Roast for 20 minutes** or until the vegetables start to blacken. Halfway through the roasting time, remove the pans, toss the vegetables around and switch places on the racks if you have more than one pan going,

Cook the bacon until crispy. Drain onto a paper towel and drain the fat into a small Pyrex type bowl.

Turn the heat back on under your now empty, but brown bottomed bacon skillet and deglaze with balsamic vinegar scraping up that great stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan and let the balsamic cook down a little and thicken. Turn off the heat and whisk in the maple syrup and a couple of tablespoons (or more) of bacon fat. Toss the cooked bacon back into the pan and stir. Add your roasted vegetables and toss those around a bit to coat.

If you want to get fancy you can add toasted nuts or dried cranberries or top with crispy fried onions or shallots.

*I bought bagged brussels sprouts which contained a variety of sizes. To achieve uniformity, cut the large ones in quarters, the medium ones in half and keep the tiny ones whole. You can also buy them loose and choose ones that are uniform in size. I like the variation of crispiness you get from the differences in shapes and sizes. Save the loose leaves and roast those last. They're like kale chips and add another dimension to the dish. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn like mine did.

**cooking time will vary depending on how large your brussels sprouts are.

I'm gonna go all out and do a big batch of these. The leftovers make a great fritatta the next morning and a nice garnish for soup.

Orecchiette, kale & white beans

Orecchiette, kale & white beans, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

There is one cookbook in my small collection that I value more and more each time I peruse it & use it- Eat Good Food -the so-much-more-than-just-a-cookery-book written by a man I truly admire, Sam Mogannam. Not only does it contain a collection of  inspiring recipes, it's brilliance is that it's a guide to shopping for fresh, quality ingredients whilst getting a better understanding for supporting traditional and local food makers and suppliers. It's one of the most consumer friendly books around and an inspiring source for food education.

I first picked up the book from my local library after reading an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Sam and Bi-Rite Market. My next day off, pedaling across town to the Mission for some work related thrift shopping, I made the turn and headed down 18th St.  At street level, the one block between Delores and Guerrero tips the scale slightly toward residential, but is as bustling as any commercial city street with both foot and vehicle traffic.  I walked my bike and spied the tiers of fresh flowers a half block away and made my way into the tiny, over-flowing market after locking up the bike. I was instantly transported back to my NYC/NYU  days. I didn't do a lot of cooking back then but I loved wandering the narrow aisles and perusing the artfully abundant wire rack shelves of grocery and over-flowing wooden crates of produce. These were the gourmet markets, short on square footage and high in alluring vertical abundance. The Garden of Eden on 14th Street and Balducci's in the West Village were my favorites. Dean & Deluca? not so much. There was something intimidating about that store.

The moment I first walked into Bi-Rite Market I was impressed by the staff, so knowledgeable and friendly, there when you needed them  and giving you the freedom to browse as long a you wanted. I loved the artististic hand lettered signs and personal informative descriptors of wines and cheese. I remember thinking "I just want to live here!". That was about 3 years ago. Next month will mark my 1 year anniversary as part of the Bi-Rite Family. Every day I learn something new.
Oddly enough, this is the first time I've cooked orecchiette pasta. I love it. They're tiny bowls of creamy goodness. I used green curly kale instead of chard as we only had the rainbow chard in the store. The recipe notes that red chard pigment will bleed into the dish and can become bitter. I wasn't sure if that applied to rainbow as well so I decided to go with the kale. I like to use the curly kale when cooking and Lacinato kale in salads. Spinach is good here too.






Orecchiette, White Beans & Chard
from Eat Good Food


1 large bunch chard, about 14 ounces
kosher salt
1 pound dried orecchiette
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces) finely diced pancetta
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked white beans (one 15-ounce can, rinsed & drained)
2 teaspoons chopped thyme or sage, or a combination
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more as needed
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano


To prepare the chard, strip the leaves off the stems. Dice up the stems and slice the leaves into thin strips, keeping them separate.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then salt generously. Add the pasta and cook until it's almost al dente, a couple of minutes less than the package instructions. Using a large slotted spoon or mesh strainer, scoop out the pasta into a colander and let it drain well. Reserve 2 cups of pasta water, and empty the pot. Return the pot to the burner and set the heat to medium-high. When the pot is dry and hot, add the pancetta and 1 tablespoon olive oil and cook, stirring frequently until the pancetta is golden and most of the fat is rendered out, about 2 minutes. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and continue to cook until the onion is translucent, about 4 more minutes. Add the chopped chard stems and cook until softened, then add the garlic and cook, stirring for another minute.
Add the beans and using a potato masher, crush about half of them. Breaking down of some of the beans thickens the sauce. Add the thyme or sage, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup of the pasta water and stir to combine. Cover the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes to blend the flavors. Stir in the chard leaves, cover and cook until the chard is tender, 2-3 more minutes.
Add the drained pasta and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, until the pasta is just al dente and the liquid has reduced to a creamy coating of sauce, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Add more pasta water if its too dry.
Remove from heat and stir in remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon juice and 1/4 of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Taste and add more lemon juice or salt as needed. Garnish with the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano.


This made good leftovers, especially the next morning, topped with a poached egg.

Caramelized Onion, Kale and Rice Gratin

Caramelized Onion, Kale and Rice Gratin, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

There have been many, many kitchen epiphanies over the last 6 months I've been working at Bi-Rite. There is one standout that has transformed my little kitchen: Cheese.

Previously, aside from the occasional purchase of true Parmigiano Reggiano and Azur Blue cheese from the infrequent excursion to the Whole Foods cheese counter,  those giant blocks of supermarket bright orange cheddar, jack and mozzarella were little kitchen staples.
Our cheese counter at Bi-Rite is my Happy Place and my favorite part about working The Creamery-the area in the store where we sell our amazing hand made ice cream. I love the ice cream, but I love the cheese more and the position of the cheese counter smack-dab next to me all day long...well...let's just say that there are suckier ways to spend an 8 hour work day. So when I brought home a bunch of greens and was contemplating my usual brown rice/quinoa bowl, somewhere in the back of my brain I heard the word gratin. Coincidentally, my sister has been posting on her Facebook page, her kitchen explorations of the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook I gave her for Christmas last year, so not to be outdone, I pulled out mine and made this. It's slight riff on one of my favorite recipes. 

In my kitchen, Twice Rescued Kale, Spinach, Dandelion Green, Caramelized Onion, Three Cheese and Brown Rice Gratin is a more fitting, if tedious title and probably not all that appealing I'd hazard to guess...but this one was off-the-hook good. I credit the cheeses. This pan was like crack. I finished the entire thing off, all by myself, in two days.

Earlier this week I came home with two new cheeses and I made this killer grilled cheese sandwich from smitten kitchen using what is now my favorite cheddar, Cabot Vintage Cheddar. It's perfectly sharp and melty. Unbelievably flavorful.  Along with it, I bought Beecher's Flagship Reserve, an English Clothbound Cheddar, which also produced a tasty grilled cheese sandwich. The Beecher's is harder, and flavorfully sharp. It can be used like a parmesan. I used the last bits of these along with some Parmigiano Reggiano. Good lord, I can't wait to make a mac and cheese with this.

 

Here's the recipe from the book. It's amazing.

wild rice gratin with kale, caramelized onions, and baby swiss

from the smitten kitchen cookbook

wild rice:

5 cups cooked wild rice (from 1 2/3 cups, 10.5 ounces, 300 grams uncooked)

        **I used brown rice because it's what I had on hand**

caramelized onions:

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large sweet onions, halved and thinly sliced

1/2 tablespoon table salt

freshly ground black pepper

4 cups stemmed, ribboned kale leaves (from an 8 ounce or 225 gram bundle)

       **I used a mixture of kale, spinach and dandelion greens**

assembly:

2 cups (8 ounces or 225 grams) coarsely grated Emmentaler or another Swiss cheese

     **my mix: Parmigiano Reggiano, Beechers Flagsghip Reserve Cheddar and Cabot Vintage Cheddar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 tablespoon to grease dish, 1 tablespoon melted, for crumbs)

3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup (60 grams) fine, dry breadcrumbs

table salt

freshly ground black pepper

Cook the rice according to package directions, but if you're like me and buy your rice in bulk and don't own a rice cooker, boil up a big pot of salted water, dump in your rinsed rice, boil the crap out of it until it becomes chewy and then drain the rice into a collander, flatten a piece of aluminum foil down onto the surface of the rice, add about a cup of water back into your cooking pot and turn the heat to high, put the colander back into the pot and cover, turning the heat to low once it's come to a boil. Steam the rice until it reaches the texture you like.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, caramelize the onions:

Heat the butter an olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions, sprinkle with salt and a little pepper, and cook until they're tender and sweet, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Add the kale ribbons, and cook until they wilt a bit, about 5 minutes. Stir together the onion-kale mixture, rice and one cup of grated cheese in a large bowl. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if you need to.

Assemble the gratin: Use 1 tablespoon of butter to generously coat a 2 quart baking dish. Spread the rice mixture into the dish and pour broth over it. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Toss bread crumbs with 1 tablespoon melted butter and salt and pepper to taste: sprinkle over cheese.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a little bubbly and beginning to brown on top.

Layered Breakfast Salad

Breakfast Salad, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

I really do love salads yet I rarely make them. By the time I've collected up my favorite salad components, rinsed, dried and chopped, sliced and slivered...well...it just seems like an awful lot of work when all is said and done for something that is essentially a side dish. It's kind of like exercising...I'll make every excuse not to do it, but once I've convinced myself to start I really enjoy it, even though more often than not, once I've enjoyed the first salad or two, I still end up with a lot of sad produce that I just can't manage to use up.

 

I am newly inspired by a couple of things:

 

1) Little Gems and Baby Heads!  Small heads of lettuce that are perfect for the single serving salad. I love, love, love the crunchy Little Gems. I'd never seen these before I started working at Bi-Rite.

2) Layered rather than tossed salads-I've taken a couple of cooking classes at 18 Reasons, Bi-Rite's non-profit educational space. The gal who runs the program and teaches many of the classes always builds the salad on platters. Each component is prepped and spread on the plate or platter in two layers and generally consists of no more than 4-5 components including the dressing, which is also drizzled on within the layers. 

3) Gifts from the Grey Box: The salad pictured above started with my culled collection of 3 Little Gems, one Baby Head, one heirloom tomato, a bunch of radishes (sliced paper thin on a mandolin), a red bell pepper (sliced in thin strips) and a handful of romano beans (sliced thinly on the diagonal). Lastly, some slivered basil.

 

My go to dressing is a honey Dijon vinaigrette:

1/3 cup Olive Oil

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 clove garlic finely minced and smashed

1 tablespoon Dijon

1 teaspoon honey or agave nectar

a pinch of salt

a couple of grinds of fresh pepper
1 thinly sliced scallion

 

I put all the dressing components into a small jam jar and shake it like crazy to emulsify.

 

The  dinner salad was topped with a little of my new favorite cheese, L'Amuse Gouda. The eggs were added to the next-day breakfast leftovers which held up surprisingly well. What I didn't use the night before, when I started layering on my salad plate, I put into a plastic sandwich container, keeping each component in it's own little pile within the single container.

The only thing missing is bacon!

Update: I just found this article as I was looking up the Little Gem. It includes and interview with Simon, our produce buyer at Bi-Rite.

 

 

 

 

lemony kale caesar salad and little kitchen inspiration

In the little kitchen, originally uploaded by michele wynne.

If anyone had told me, even a year ago (when my go-all-out new kitchen philosophy was transforming the little kitchen), that I would eat, much less purchase, and be happily fileting anchovies in my kitchen, I would have told you you were ca-raaazy.  But, as my palate evolves, so does the little kitchen. Remarkable things have occurred in recent months that continue to enlighten and confound the little kitchen almost daily.
I'm currently reading "The Omnivores Dilemma" and I'm trying to wrap my brain around the whole corn thing---eeek---and pondering the last 3 months that have been the speedy blur of information, education and inspiration as I close in on my first 90 days as an employee at the amazing Bi-Rite Market. Not only am I happily over-whelmed by a dazzle of wonderful food products, I'm inspired by a great bunch of people. The first being Sam, the owner. Sam took over the family business in  1996 and transformed it into a brilliant specialty food market. I've never met anyone so passionate about food and feeding people as Sam. Sam has about 275 employees and knows and greets everyone by name. He personally handed me a birthday card last week and thanked me for my work. That was unprecedented in any place I've ever worked.

The card contained a gift card and I immediately knew what I was going to use it for...something I'd never remotely consider dropping $20 on. Ever. I bought a can of imported Italian anchovies. This didn't just come out of nowhere. A few weeks ago, I took a cooking class at 18 Reasons, Bi-Rites non-profit educational space.  It was a class on sauces. We made Bagna Cauda, an amazing sauce featuring anchovies lightly cooked with garlic and butter. The finished sauce is primarily used as a dipping sauce for vegetables, either raw or cooked. I was also informed about the goodness that anchovies bring to pasta sauces and salad dressings.
This is what I learned about anchovies: Salt packed anchovies have a more intense flavor (I found this true of capers as well) The big can in the picture contained about 20 whole anchovies. Once the can was opened I transferred everything into two airtight jars and packed in more coarse sea salt. When you're ready to use them, rinse the salt off and then place the anchovies in a bowl of warm water for about 20 minutes. This draws out more salt. Cut off the head and tail, then draw the tip of a sharp knife down the back of the anchovy just to make a shallow cut, carefully open the anchovy to reveal the skeleton and lift it out. I then scrape the silver skin off with the knife. Mince up the anchovy and it's ready to go in the sauce or dressing you're making.
I'm all about kale right now, so I made the Lemony Kale Caesar Salad from Eat Good Food which seemed like the perfect place to start with my anchovies and it happily surpassed my expectations. I made a very large bowl of it and the leftover salad was just as tasty as it was freshly made.  Coincidentally I got the latest Bon Appetit in the mail today which included a bit about the healthy veg benefits and kale is said to have more calcium than 6 ounces of milk and more fiber than 3 slices of whole wheat bread and raw kale has more vitamin C, anti-oxidants and phyto-nutrient than cooked.
So I'm off to make another kale salad.

Lemony Kale Caesar Salad
from Eat Good Food

1 medium bunch of dino kale
2 cloves garlic
kosher salt
2 anchovy fillets, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesano Reggiano cheese, more for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper

Slice off and discard the stalks of the kale. Stack the leaves on top of each other and then slice the kale into 1/4 inch strips. If you're gonna eat this immediately, I might suggest a little massage at this point to tenderize the leaves a little. I tend to make these kale salads in advance to let the leaves self tenderize in the dressing. Set the bowl of prepared kale aside.
Coarsely chop the garlic, sprinkle with some sea salt and give the garlic a smash and smear with the side of your knife. Transfer into an airtight jam jar or a practically empty jar of Dijon. Add the anchovy, egg yolk, lemon juice, Dijon and olive oil . Seal the jar tightly and shake like crazy. Dip a leaf of kale into the dressing and taste it, adding more lemon juice or salt as desired.
Put the kale into a large bowl and drizzle about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dressing over the kale. Using your hands, gently toss until the leaves are evenly coated.  Sprinkle the cheese over the salad and toss again. Taste and add more dressing or salt as needed. Sprinkle a little cheese on top of each salad plate with a quick grind of fresh black pepper.
 

Ramp Pizza

Ramp Pizza, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

Just a few short weeks ago, I'd never heard of ramps. Many changes have occured since then and this recipe for Ramp Pizza, appearing from Smitten Kitchen last week was nothing short of freaky.

The big news is: I got a new job. I ventured out of my comfort zone, leaving a job I was content with but ultimately unchallenged or inspired by. After a few fits and starts, I have landed here. A gourmet market so special and inspiring, I'm practically chomping at the bit to re-vamp the little kitchen and my life. The company mission statement? Building community through food.

Though my new career so perfectly gels with the original intention of my little blog: embracing the veg, it will open up a whole new world of food for me. 

I'm currently obsessed with the produce...mostly attempting to memorize an overwhelming number of numbers that identify each type of fruit and vegetable. I knew that would be a challenge, but what surprises and intrigues me are the odd creatures I've never seen before.

 

As I'm OCD'ing  Googling my way through Ramp 101:

a wild leek, sort of a cross between a scallion and green garlic... pungent and onion-y. They're not cultivated, grown in gardens or on farms. They are foraged from forests, found mainly in the east from the Carolinas to Canada. Their season only lasts the first few weeks of Spring...

...up pops the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, just as I'm pondering what one does with a ramp. Pizza! Brilliant...a little piece of my comfort zone.