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Yesterday was a food day. I met some friends at the Sunnyvale Farmers Market for warm drinks and chatted for a long while, then we went and wandered the market. As usual, i came home feeling like i'd bought food enough to prepare for a nuclear winter.
The bulkiest of the purchase were the veggies for stock: a bundle of carrots with their greens, leeks, and a celery that was over three foot tall, mostly leaves and gone somewhat pithy in the stalks. The carrots and leek roots i've reserved for later, but a rich celery based broth is ready for the next few weeks.
Once all the greens were chopped up (along with a lingering half onion and the sad limp carrots from the bottom of the veggie bin) i went to making a fruit compote with the sad grapes and the persimmons i brought back from my parents tree and the blemished fifty cent a pound apples at the market. I was impressed how the grapes plumped up and the apples shrunk in the cooking. The mollasses and honey sweetened fruit should keep while we're away over the middle of the week.
Beets sit in the drainer. I couldn't decide on red or orange, so i've both. I need to cook the greens today, but the beets along with the winter squash, pomegranate, and celery root will keep for next weekend.
Dungeness crab were only $5/lb at the grocery, but i learned last year (or the year before?) that i don't want to be messing with crab that has sat a couple of days in the fridge. We didn't die, but no point testing the limits.
At the grocery i indulged in everything but the crab so that we can have festive meals when we get back from our anniversary trip. Most of the indulgences were in cheeses: i refrained from repurchasing the aged provolone that delighted me over Thanksgiving and chose an English cheese with cranberries. I also bought a roll of gingerbread cookie dough and icing and sprinkles as a half step towards holiday baking.
A little later, after a run to the grocery to get more mollasses, i worked on the steamed brown bread (Original recipe here). The recipe calls for three grains: whole wheat, corn meal, and rye, in equal proportion. Remarkably, while i did not have rye flour, i had the gluten free rye substitute, teff. Given the cornmeal, i substituted corn flour for the whole wheat, and added a touch of xanthan gum to make up for the lack of wheat. I think i could have left it out, actually. I didn't have a can but had a vintage aluminum baking mold that held the volume of the dough made. I forgot to butter it, but even remembering that would not have helped resolve the issue of letting the water all boil out of the pot.
Still, scorched pot and all, it tasted right and good, and i will make this again. I'm tempted to try without the brown mollasses and teff and just make a steamed cornbread this way. The texture is lovely, the fat content is just that of the milk used, it's very satisfying.
The bulkiest of the purchase were the veggies for stock: a bundle of carrots with their greens, leeks, and a celery that was over three foot tall, mostly leaves and gone somewhat pithy in the stalks. The carrots and leek roots i've reserved for later, but a rich celery based broth is ready for the next few weeks. Once all the greens were chopped up (along with a lingering half onion and the sad limp carrots from the bottom of the veggie bin) i went to making a fruit compote with the sad grapes and the persimmons i brought back from my parents tree and the blemished fifty cent a pound apples at the market. I was impressed how the grapes plumped up and the apples shrunk in the cooking. The mollasses and honey sweetened fruit should keep while we're away over the middle of the week.
Beets sit in the drainer. I couldn't decide on red or orange, so i've both. I need to cook the greens today, but the beets along with the winter squash, pomegranate, and celery root will keep for next weekend.
Dungeness crab were only $5/lb at the grocery, but i learned last year (or the year before?) that i don't want to be messing with crab that has sat a couple of days in the fridge. We didn't die, but no point testing the limits.
At the grocery i indulged in everything but the crab so that we can have festive meals when we get back from our anniversary trip. Most of the indulgences were in cheeses: i refrained from repurchasing the aged provolone that delighted me over Thanksgiving and chose an English cheese with cranberries. I also bought a roll of gingerbread cookie dough and icing and sprinkles as a half step towards holiday baking.
A little later, after a run to the grocery to get more mollasses, i worked on the steamed brown bread (Original recipe here). The recipe calls for three grains: whole wheat, corn meal, and rye, in equal proportion. Remarkably, while i did not have rye flour, i had the gluten free rye substitute, teff. Given the cornmeal, i substituted corn flour for the whole wheat, and added a touch of xanthan gum to make up for the lack of wheat. I think i could have left it out, actually. I didn't have a can but had a vintage aluminum baking mold that held the volume of the dough made. I forgot to butter it, but even remembering that would not have helped resolve the issue of letting the water all boil out of the pot.
Still, scorched pot and all, it tasted right and good, and i will make this again. I'm tempted to try without the brown mollasses and teff and just make a steamed cornbread this way. The texture is lovely, the fat content is just that of the milk used, it's very satisfying.
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