Projects for the Easily Entertained

Fresh Coconut Macaroons

The coconut that I received in my Co-op basket has been rolling around my kitchen counter for about a month now. I was expecting to crack it open to find that my procrastination had ensured its demise. Not a bit rancid-the juice was sweet & restorative-what a shelf life! I tried to break through its armored surface with a hammer & a VERY sturdy knife inserted into a slight fissure in the shell. I fast realized that this endeavor would result in a trip to the Emergency Room or at the very least a broken kitchen knife! I couldn't help but applaud the tenacity of those first souls to discover that there was a fine edible flesh within such an impenetrable encasement! (Did we learn of this by watching the birds & monkeys?!?) I discovered that a quick bake in the oven does indeed make the process much easier at Epicurious. There is a link to print out a grocery list for the recipe which might not be so funny if the ingredients consisted of more than a:

Fresh Brown Coconut.

There was a great deal of paring & grating this afternoon-a true work out! I finished the project with very soft hands and a slight dusting of white flecks on my lap, (and the couch!) and some lovely macaroons!

A Certain Mood

Photo Credits & Original Sources:

1. Blood Orange

2. Olaf Wipperfurth Photography

3. Paper Lanterns

4. Lychee Fruit

5. Pu-erh Tea

6. Papilio Ulysses Butterfly Wing

7. Paper Lanterns

8. Olaf Wipperfurth Photography

9. Candied Ginger

A Random June Night in My Kitchen

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

My Art blog is fast becoming a look what I made for dinner blog! I have been finding so much peace over the past few weeks in measuring, dicing, combining, stirring, sauteing, charring...

The science of the kitchen.

The various textures of fresh summer vegetables & herbs... the broiling Tucson heat, the view of the mulberry tree from the kitchen window, the acrid smell of onions, the spongy quality of eight ball zucchini, the heat and smokiness of various types of chilies and grapefruits straight from the grove.

As a starving artist I had been subsisting, mostly, on bread, pasta & processed cheese-so to have fresh ingredients in the house has been heaven.

There is something SO satisfying about cooking with simple ingredients. I love rustic galettes, big bubbling pots of beans, herbs & chilies and coarsely chopped vegetables-I love cooking Wabi Sabi style.

There is something strange about citrus at night (I've always associated it with morning/sunlight) but I couldn't resist the idea of fresh grapefruit cake as a finish to a LONG hot day...

Playdough for Grownups

Green Onion Pancakes

with

Ginger Chili Dipping sauce

There was an ENORMOUS bunch of green onions in my CSA share this past week; a testament to 'Growth' despite our hostile desert environment! (actually, onions like it here don't they?) I'll happily sprinkle a few here & there but this glorious bunch called for something special. Found this easy step by step recipe (with pictures!) at MOMOFUKU for 2. There are SO many recipes out there for green onion pancakes! I chose one of the first recipes I came across which looked good and didn't require the purchase of any ingredients I didn't already have on hand. (Good recipe but the dough tends to dry out very quickly in my 80 degree/table fan cooled kitchen so a few minor adjustments will have to be made next time-maybe a little oil in the mix.)

Fun fun fun with dough! While needing, rolling and forming the dough into green onion filled coiled buns; I couldn't help but think of playdough. I've seen (and made) my share of this magical dough as I taught preschoolers for over four years. (A long, long time ago!)

Ah, playdough!!

A childhood next door neighbor (and partner in many an escapade!) and I got into a great deal of trouble for throwing a lump of homemade playdough with great force straight up onto the ceiling! We were pretty young so I can only surmise that we were testing the limits of our little universe with this experiment. The trouble, and reason we got caught, was that it was REALLY sticky and it didn't come back down! There it was s-l-o-w-l-y stretching down from its point of contact; suctioned onto the popcorn ceiling. Our giggling was abruptly silenced when we were discovered by parents-we gave ourselves away in the hilarity of it all! (But than again how could we have denied involvement if we hadn't gotten caught red handed? "Nope I didn't have any playdough... how on earth did it get up there?!!?") The logic of childhood!

Crooked Sky Farms-Promoting Kitchen Creativity (one share at a time)

Sorrel

Gnocchi in a Sorrel Sauce

I've waited SO patiently for enough funds to start a CSA session and finally I was able to commit! It was explained that our first share was a little more scant than usual due to a difficult growing season but even so I was thrilled! (Grapefruit, Peaches-small but REALLY good, Green Onions, Red Onions, Dried I'itoi Onions, Sorrel, Wheat Berries, 3 types of Summer Squash & Red LaSoda potatoes.) The Sonoran Spring has been longer and cooler this year which is fine with me-I'll gladly wait a week or so for corn & cucumbers in exchange for cool weather!

I have fallen head over heels for the simple & lovely sorrel sauce found in Eric Pateman's The British Columbia Seasonal Cookbook. (recipe above.) The cream based sauce is actually really light-the fats are tempered nicely by the acidity of the sorrel. The lemony flavor of the sorrel was perfect on a warm evening. Made a few minor tweaks to the recipe-I used a tad bit more sorrel, cut the heavy cream with whole milk and added a couple of pinches of sea salt to the finished sauce before adding the gnocchi. (I also pan fried my gnocchi in a little butter to brown them-they are too squishy for my tastes if I don't!)

Red Onion

Red Onion, Feta, & Olive Tart

I prepared this quick & easy puff pastry 'tart' that I found on the BBC Good Food magazine site for lunch today. I caramelized my onions a little more-tasty but not as pretty as their finished tart! I used a light feta cheese & Moroccan cured black olives (to add a little more salt) and balance out the sweetness of the onions.

I feel really grateful for all of the time spent creating in the kitchen. I have been struggling with art materials-so not much has been actualized lately! Waxes and gelatin capsules behave VERY differently here in the desert than they do in the Bay Area!! My working process is slowly evolving to produce the desired results here in the dry heat. In the meantime I'll use a zucchini as my muse!