Turnip green & pumpkin
ohitashi style sushi
April 17, 2008
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Rescued from the bin: forgotten vegetables transformed into a memorable vegan sushi
40% of all produce is wasted on the route from field to fork. The number is actually more like 60% and it’s easy to understand how the waste becomes heavier if we buy industrially produced food from far away places, highly packaged and marketed. Which is why I don’t do that. My approach to mitigating food waste is by buying less, (as if I ever had to bike to the store mid-week for some greens) and to prepare the leafy greens I get at the farmer’s market into something ‘salad ready’ immediately.
For the moments when I still space out and don’t eat everything I buy, beware my Happy Hour! I’ve been developing recipes for forgotten vegetables which will also be used in a soon to open snack restaurant (currently in fetal position) run on the principle of hyper-use. Hyper use of facilities, hyper-use of restaurant expertise and available foodstuffs. The project is called Lucky Mi Fortune Cooking and I’ll be writing about it increasingly in the next few months.
Here is a vegan sushi recipe based upon the Japanese spinach ohitashi salad. It takes just a minute to make and it’s refreshing, beautiful and of course adaptable.
Turnip green and pumpkin Ohitashi-style sushi
– 1 bunch of less than perfect turnip greens (forgotten vegetable syndrome)
– 1 hand full of various sprouted seeds, leek works really well
– 1 spring onion
– 3 tbs. steamed pumpkin, cooled
– fleur de sel or seal salt, ground to a powder
– wasabi paste
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Blanch the greens for but a few seconds, plunge with cold water. Try to keep the leaves going in the same direction, as anal as that may sound, it’s actually easier.
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Wring out the greens enthusiastically.
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Spread out the greens on your sushi mat and sprinkle with salt.
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Place sprouts, wasabi paste and pumpkin on the matted green.
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Delicately fold the matted greens over, to start the sushi roll. Use the mat to roll the sushi tightly. Squeeze and squeeze and squeeze… in moderation.
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Turn out the sushi onto a cutting board and slice carefully. Serve in or with a puddle of soy sauce, or sesame dressing.
debra at 11:35 | Comments (8) | post to del.icio.us
Imagining Kate
April 9, 2008
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=”Come Back Kate film still by Quirine Racké and Helena Muskens used entirely with permission
The Kate Bush Party at Mediamatic this Friday evening promises give-us-a-twirl dress-up, lighters-in-the-air sing-a-long and a generous format screening of Quirine Racké and Helena Musken’s poignant art rockumentary Come Back Kate. The evening will also premiere the Imagining Kate cocktail, designed especially for the Ladies and the Mediamatic event. Hard to think of a better way to enjoy a Friday night, heterosexual men are welcome. Reserve now.
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Imagining Kate cocktail innovation
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Imagining Kate Cocktail Recipe (serves 1)
Freeze cocktail glasses. In a blender combine:
– 40 ml absinth (55-60% variety)
– 15 ml orgeade
– 1 egg white
– dash of violet liqueur
– 6 ice cubes
– vanilla grains (1/16th of one pod)
Blend ingredients until frothy. Rub the rim of the glass with female pheromone solution. Swirl blender before pouring to ensure that all of the vanilla grains are poured along with the foamy cocktail.
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Taste testing the Imagining Kate cocktail. It has nice mouth feel, super sexy after-buzz, a light landing, and it leaves a pleasant mustache.
debra at 23:36 | Comments (2) | post to del.icio.us
Citrofiliac
April 4, 2008
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The Composer called me a citrofiliac! And though he seems to appreciate my cooking, he thinks I should use less citrus. Whatevs, by the time he gets back from his massive stint in the Old Country it’ll be strawberry, soft fruit and rhubarb season. In lieu of citrussy freshness I’ll show him every corner of the berry and the barb.
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01 – Use up the fruit at the bottom of the fruit bowl. If it’s not pretty enough to eat raw it’s surely perfect for making marmalade. This batch is made from blood oranges and tangerines with their funky stuff cut off.
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02 – In an enamel pot, add a bunch of sugar, I use raw cane sugar. Fire it up, and then turn the fire down. You want it warm enough to release the juices but not so warm as to carmelise the sugar.
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03 – Within minutes you’ll get this, a bubbling and aromatic citrus loveliness! Keep the fire low and the lid off. You know how I feel about stirring, don’t do it if you can help it. Marmalade making is more about paying attention to what’s going on with the materials than mindlessly flailing a spoon. Think of this as perma-cooking!
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04 – Once the marmalade has cooked down a lot (this can take hours, just let it do what it does) turn off the flame and let it cool off. The marmalade is ready when you think the syrup is sufficiently thick. I like it almost candied and think the marmalade is most versatile in this form, as an ingredient in or atop other things.
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05 – If you want the marmalade to be more ‘jammie’, add more sugar to the volume. You can see that I just want an excuse to eat candied tangerines, stare out the windows and think about l’Hameau. This marmalade goes great on hangop or susme (thick fatty Turkish yoghurt) but can also be used on the bottom of a crumb crust if you’re making a lemon tart. Or if you suffer citrofilial tendencies.
debra at 9:12 | Comments (0) | post to del.icio.us
