Radish green, garlic scape and pistachio pesto

It recently dawned on me that radish greens are perfectly usable. I had always focussed on the bright pink orbs below and removed and composted the greens, but I recently tried eating them and found them quite good: they have a subtle, pleasant taste. Radish greens are best cooked (or pulverised, as here) as they are slightly hairy: use as you would nettles (or spinach).

Now is the season for garlic scapes. As they have a relatively subtle garlic taste I thought they might go well in a pesto, so I used radish greens for bulk and background, with garlic scapes for punchy flavour and pistachios for texture and additional taste.

2 cups packed radish greens
~5 garlic scapes, chopped into ~ 1 inch chunks*
1/4 cup shelled, unsalted pistachios (roasted or raw)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp lemon juice

Wash the radish greens and pack into a blender cup. Add the garlic scapes, pistachios, olive oil, salt and lemon juice. Use a wand blender to blend until smooth and well combined. It should be garlicky, but not overwhelmingly so.

I used this pesto as a base layer on top of pizza (with pumpkin seeds, thinly sliced courgette, black olives, pumpkin seeds, sauteed beet greens, dry tofu and sweetcorn kernels on top) made from frozen balls of dough (defrosted for ~ 2 hours) and the method from this recipe.


Made a good pesto: quite garlicky but that was the whole idea. Worked really well on pizza as baking toned down the taste intensity a little.

*Could substitute a similar quantity of wild garlic. If using regular garlic use much less: it has a far stronger garlicky taste.

Coconut kefir: oven-free rhubarb crumble

This fell together out of convenience, but as soon as it happened I realised it was brilliant: simple, and a perfect combination of delicious things. It is crumble without the oven: chilled for a hot day.

(these quantities probably enough for about 4 servings)

1 quantity (made from 1 lb rhubarb) stewed rhubarb and ginger
1 quantity (made from 1 tin coconut milk) coconut milk kefir
~1 cup granola

Dollop some (warm or chilled) stewed rhubarb in a bowl. Sprinkle with granola: this makes a sort-of crumble. Add some coconut milk kefir for a creamy, yoghurty texture on the side.

All of these items can be made in advance and kept in the fridge (kefir / rhubarb) or pantry (granola) until needed.

Coconut kefir: banana, mango and coconut shake

I was excited that my kefir experiment worked (for coconut milk anyway). The coconut kefir is delicious: thick and yoghurty and still very coconutty. I have been eating it on its own, in spoonfuls; also it was wonderful with stewed rhubarb and a little granola (ie an oven-free crumble). This shake / smoothie is really simple but insanely good, especially on a hot day.

1 ripe banana
3/4 cup frozen mango pieces
3/4 cup stirred coconut kefir

Peel the banana and break chunks into a blender. Add frozen mango and coconut kefir. Blend until smooth. Made a thick shake - almost pudding consistency - and enough for small helpings for two people.

Kefir experiment: coconut milk kefir

Introduction:
I got curious about using kefir in non-milk situations - there is such a thing as water kefir, and I read that you can use milk kefir in non dairy milk. That sour-creamy (yoghurty) taste/texture is one of the few non-vegan things I actually miss eating regularly. The discoveries that the So Delicious coconut milk drinking yoghurt (the best non-dairy yoghurt I've found) was originally marketed as kefir, and that A makes kefir using what he calls 'santan' (which seems to be pretty much coconut milk) when he is home in Borneo sealed the deal: experiments are starting now!

Method / Results:
All experiments done in parallel at room temperature, which probably averaged ~23C during this period. I used clean glass jars with the lid left ajar (to avoid any gas build-up / explosions), and put them in the pantry away from direct sunlight.

Day 1: A brought me some milk kefir grains (in milk - he usually uses them in milk) in an old marmalade jar. When I got them home I split them between three glass jars: 1) the original jar, with milk in it; 2) one with a whole tin of full-fat coconut milk in it (I think Chaokoh brand: forgot to note - was a brown tin with coconuts on it); 3) one with about a cup of Almond Breeze almond milk in it. Left them at room temperature. Jar 1 (milk) already tastes sour and yoghurty, although still a bit milky.

Day 2: Jar 1 (milk) is well soured by now. Transferred to fridge. Jar 2 (coconut) is developing an interesting sourness and thickness, also separating a little. Jar 3 (almond) is separating but nothing much is happening to the taste, also the kefir grains don't look very healthy.

Day 3: Jar 2 (coconut) is good: thick, sour, slightly fizzy, separating (goes together when beaten with a fork) - A said all of these features were desirable - transferred to the fridge. Jar 3 (almond) is a loss: it did not sour properly, kefir grains looked bad, eventually mould developed on top and I threw it away.

Day 6: Jars 1 and 2 are currently stored in the fridge. To use the coconut kefir I have been stirring it thoroughly with a fork, then scooping out the quantity I desire to use, being careful to leave the kefir grains in the jar.

Day 8: Removed all the coconut kefir from Jar 1 and transferred it to a fresh jar, leaving the kefir grains behind. Cleaned and dried the jar, then put another tin of coconut milk (Goya brand, no additives, looked a bit like it had separated) into the jar with the kefir grains and put it at room temperature.

Day 9: Coconut kefir starting to smell and taste sour already. Room temperature is pretty high at the moment - approx 28C.

Next phases of the experiment will involve (1) attempting to strain the remaining grains out and (2) transferring them to a fresh quantity of coconut milk to see if I can maintain the culture without dairy milk.

(1) I haven't been bothering with straining: I have just been scooping the kefir out from around the grains / scooping out the grains and pouring off the kefir.

(2) Kept grains in coconut milk in the fridge for 2-3 days. Then transferred them to a clean jar with a new can (Aroy-D brand) coconut milk. The milk soured within 48 hours again (got so fizzy it almost boiled over). I transferred it back to the fridge.

Brands (all tinned, without thickeners added): Goya = $1.75 @ Brigham Circle Stop n Shop, very thin and slightly grainy; Aroy-D = $3.00 for two @ Super 88, very thick before but thin after culturing, Chaokoh = $2.50 for two @ Super 88.

Discussion:
Grains are not really growing while in coconut milk, and they are not all plump and gelatinous-looking like they were when they came out of cow milk. So, while they are efficiently souring coconut milk just now, I imagine this might not work forever. However, A has a constant excess of grains from his cow milk culture at the moment, so I can re-up my culture whenever I want.
The first batch I did thickened up, whereas the second and third batches remained thin. I think this was because of the brand of coconut milk: a second batch using Goya brand and some fresh grains from A was also thin. Seems like the thickness of the kefir mostly depends on the thickness of the coconut milk used. Shake the tin before buying and listen to guess at how thick it is - if it doesn't make much sloshing noise it is likely to be quite thick.
The big advantage of kefir-making over yoghurt-making is that works well at room temperature. I'm curious to try yoghurt culture with tinned coconut milk, as I only ever tried it with soy milk (which didn't work).

Conclusions:
I can make coconut kefir, although perhaps not indefinitely or at lower temperatures. It is still possible I could make kefir with other non-dairy milks, but the results with almond milk suggest that using a pure milk (without thickeners or other added ingredients) may be important. Seems possible to store kefir and grains in the fridge for at least weeks and be able to bring them out anytime and they still work straight away. Fizziness of freshly made kefir seems reduced after a few days in the fridge.

Easiest beetroot prep: beetroot and brazil nut salad

Beetroot is so beautiful, so tasty, and even comes as two veg in one: greens plus roots. Here is my usual, simplest way to prep the roots - once they are cooked they peel very easily, and can be thrown in any kind of salad or grain dish. Like the one below.

Beetroot prep
 
Separate the beetroot from the greens (save the greens for something else). Scrub the beetroot (but don't peel), then put in a small saucepan and fill with water so covered by about an inch. Cover, bring to the boil, and simmer for 20-30 min, until a pointy knife tip goes in easily (ie they are tender). Drain the beetroot, leave to cool and refrigerate until needed.

Beetroot and brazil nut salad

~6 small beetroot, prepped in advance as above
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
salt+pepper
~10 brazil nuts, chopped
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh chives, finely chopped
~8 leaves crunchy Romaine lettuce, roughly chopped

Peel the beetroot: the peel should just slide off as you rub your fingers along them. Dice the naked beetroot into large chunks. Put mustard, maple syrup, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a medium serving bowl, then beat together with a fork. Add the diced beetroot and toss, then add the remaining ingredients and toss some more.


Herb combinations can be varied: chives alone, parsley alone, coriander or mint would all be good. the lettuce is optional (although the dressing quantities could be halved if not using). The nuts can also be subbed: walnuts instead, or toasted pumpkin seeds, or nigella seeds.

Dehydrator granola: almond, seed and spice

Another granola variation: the ones I've been making in the oven come out very toasty, which is nice, but I wondered about trying it in the dehydrator. This version is following the same super simple formula as the other granolas I have tried recently, but drying in the dehydrator instead of the oven. Could be good for those sweltering Summer days when turning on the oven seems like the worst idea ever (we're not quite there yet).

3 cups oats
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup toasted flaked almonds
1/4 cup dried unsweetened coconut
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp ground linseed
1 tsp mahlab
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp clear honey
3 tbsp refined coconut oil
1 tbsp grape molasses
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp almond milk

Mix the oats, seeds, coconut, ground linseed and spices in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the honey, coconut oil, grape molasses, brown sugar and almond milk until they are well combined and any lumps of sugar are gone. Add the wet stuff to the oat mixture and mix until everything is coated. Transfer the mixture to dehydrator sheets (the ones with no holes; I used two sheets for this quantity). Spread it out evenly and put it in the dehydrator at 115F. Dry for ~20 hours, until completely crunchy, with no remaining softness.


Nicest thing about this version is that it clumps really well. However, it never goes really crunchy and is not very toasty. One thing to try would be toasting the oats/seeds/coconut separately in pan or oven before dehydrating (would kinda defeat the point of granola-making, as it makes it much more complicated). Another would be a higher temperature in the dehydrator - perhaps that's next...

Roast parsnips and sweet potato with mustard and maple

A simple update of a Delia recipe. With the last of the Spring (ie sweetest) parsnips. The Summer (weekly) CSA has started so I felt the need to empty the fridge out before the green deluge begins...

4 medium parsnips, trimmed and scrubbed
1 large sweet potato, trimmed and scrubbed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sumac
salt+pepper
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp olive oil

Heat oven to 450F. Chop the parsnips and sweet potato (leave peel on) into chunky sticks (~2 cm across / 8 cm long). Put the vegetable pieces in a bowl and toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, sumac, salt and pepper. Transfer the veg to a large baking tray (with edges). Put in the oven and roast for 30-40 min, until the vegetables are tender all the way through and lightly browned. Mix 1 tsp olive oil, maple syrup and olive oil, then distribute over the top of the roasted veg. Eat warm or cold.

Spring pizza

Ramps were the one I hadn't tried in the Northeast Spring trinity (the other two in the trinity being fiddleheads and morels). They are essentially wild leeks, and while they grow in other places too people seems to be particularly nuts about them around here. I'd given up hope of eating ramps this year: Spring is basically over, and I thought my last chance had come and gone in Philly. But then they were selling them in the canteen at work (about the last place I would have expected!): they weren't in the best nick but good enough and I couldn't resist, so I bought a bunch.

But then, what to do with them? I settled on pizza as a good way of extending a small quantity of a fancy ingredient. I decided they would go well with hazelnuts, but otherwise wanted to keep that one simple. But figured we would need more than one pizza, so made enough dough and a second pizza with a riot of colourful (mostly green) Spring tastes on it. I wanted to explore a few more things regarding pizza: hoping for a good, quickish dough recipe, using 00 flour (bought by accident a while ago when looking for pasta flour, but probably perfect for pizza?), pre-heating our cast-iron pan / sliding prepped pizza onto hot pan, and freezing dough for future use. Decided to try out Jamie Oliver's recipe, as it contained both 00, semolina and olive oil, all of which seemed right in pizza, and also it proves in one hour (not unreasonable).

For the dough:
(makes enough for 4 smallish or 3 bigger pizzas)
3 1/2 cups strong white bread flour / 00 flour
(or 2 1/2 cups strong white bread flour / 00 flour plus 1 cup finely ground semolina flour (pasta flour))
1/2 tbsp fine sea / desert salt
1 3/4 tbsp dried yeast
1/2 tbsp raw sugar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

Toppings for ramp pizza:
~4 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp dandelion-ramp miso
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch (5) ramps, cleaned, trimmed, separated into bulbs and leaves and chopped
~8 hazelnuts, toasted and chopped (add after baking)

Toppings for green pizza:
1/2 cup frozen broad beans (without jackets), defrosted
1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1-2 tbsp mint leaves
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt+pepper
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 small bulb fresh spring garlic, trimmed and chopped (including green parts)
bunch of spring greens: nasturtium leaves, radish leaves, rocket leaves, roughly chopped (~1 cup when chopped)
5 black olives, de-pitted and chopped
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 piece of dry tofu, thinly sliced
flowers from 2 chive flowerheads (add after baking)

Mix the flours (I used the mixture of 00 and semolina) and salt with a fork, then dump on a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a large measuring jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes. Add some of the liquid mix to the well, then bring in the flour, continuing to add the liquid and bring in the flour gradually until you have used all the liquid and the dough starts to come together. Knead for about 10 min, until the dough is smooth and springy. Put the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave somewhere warm for about 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the toppings. For the ramp pizza, mix together the tomato puree, vinegar, 1 tsp olive oil, salt+pepper and miso, then thin with a little water until a good spreading consistency. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan, then add the white parts of the ramps and fry for a few minutes until starting to soften. Add green parts, season and fry for a minute or two more until wilted. For the green pizza, put the broad beans, peas, mint, 1 tsp olive oil, salt+pepper and lemon juice in a blender cup and blend until they become a smooth, green puree. Cook the garlic and spring greens together as for the ramps, adding the garlic first and then the greens.

Punch down the dough. Divide the dough into 3-4 balls (one per pizza). You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required (I used two balls for this and put two more in the freezer*). For immediate use, roll a dough ball out to a rough circle about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer to a piece of baking paper scattered with semolina on top of a large wooden board. Put a pizza stone, cast iron pizza pan or baking sheet in the oven and heat to 450F. Arrange the toppings on the dough circle: smear the puree or sauce across the surface, taking it right up close to the edges, then sprinkle with the remaining ingredients (except stuff to be added after baking). Open the oven and carefully slide the paper and pizza onto the heated stone or pan. Bake for ~20 min, until the pizza is lightly browned and puffy around the edges. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a minute or two, then sprinkle with the final toppings (hazelnuts on ramp pizza, chive flowers on green pizza) before eating.


Both came out pretty good. The sliding onto pizza pan worked out pretty good, and the dough puffed up nicely (although there is definitely a sweet spot with thickness - it is possible to go too thin and end up with something super crispy that doesn't really puff up and browns instantly at the edges). I liked both topping combinations: ramps and hazelnuts definitely go well together, and the radish/nasturtium/rocket mix was very tasty with the green puree, sunflower seeds and pretty purple chive flowers.

*To use dough from the freezer, take frozen dough balls out to defrost ~2 hours before you want to use them (I had no problems with them sticking to the clingfilm or anything like that). When they are soft, you can roll them out as for the fresh dough and proceed from there. 

Vedge in Philadelphia / Sauna Eggs in New Jersey

Just back from a road trip South to New Jersey and Philadelphia. We encountered some of the rainstorm Andrea on the road down, and stayed overnight at King Spa in Palisades Park, NJ. It's a 24 hour Korean spa, so for a very reasonable fee you can stay all night and all day. A good thing to do in the rain! While you're there, for $2 you can get three of their sauna-cooked eggs. They have a kiln sauna that they heat up every morning, apparently to 200C. As they heat it they put dozens of eggs in it to cook. We went in while the eggs were cooking and it was incredibly hot. You have to sit under a blanket to stay in there for any length of time. It smelled of egg: they were arranged on shelves along the walls. When we came out we watched a man go in to remove the eggs. He was wearing a protective face mask and heatproof gloves. We ate some eggs as soon as they went on sale - still too hot to handle. They were similar to tea eggs: slightly spiced, brown, and essentially hardboiled in the shell. Actually delicious, with a bit of salt.

We ate well in Philly. Lots of interesting vegetarian options. The first night we went to Khyber and ate vegan pulled pork sandwiches: seriously the best fake meat dish I have ever tried. The following night we went fancy and ate at Vedge: three of the four of us are veg, and I'd discovered the place online and got excited about it. N+G had been there before and confirmed it was worth getting excited about. We ate well: cocktails, plus various fancy vegan dishes. I got excited as they had ramps on the menu and I thought I would get to try them at last, just before the season ended, but then after they took our order they came back to tell us they were all out: bummer. Highlights included a halva ice-cream, heart of palm with pickled corn, salt-roasted golden beet. It wasn't 100% awesome: I couldn't help being a little disappointed with a few dishes (cauliflower soup, the ramps), but it was a great atmosphere and an ambitious menu that was truly, refreshingly veg-focussed.

Pumpkin in June (M's birthday): Pumpkin muffins

I defrosted a cup of pumpkin puree to use for M's birthday pumpkin granola, and since I had half a cup left over I decided I may as well make something else pumpkinny too. Muffins seemed like a straightforward option, and this recipe looked irresistible. I have made pumpkin muffin type things a couple of times before, but neither were quite right, and besides I wanted to try these ones.

(half the quantities below made 9 small muffins)

1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves (left this out)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup fake milk
1/2 cup veg oil
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup raisins (or cranberries, or walnuts, or pecans, or some combination of all of those)

Heat oven to 400F. Prepare a muffin tin. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl with a fork. In a separate bowl, beat together pumpkin, fake milk, oil, and molasses. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for ~20 min, until they are lightly browned on top and a skewer comes out clean.

Pumpkin in June (M's birthday): Pumpkin and spice granola

It is M's birthday this weekend and she loves pumpkin, so I thought of making her some pumpkin stuff. Granola sprang to mind: it keeps for a good while, and if I pack it in a jar and label it, it should make a pretty gift - for snacking and for breakfasts. Ever since I made granola for the first time a week or two ago I keep thinking of potential variations - it seems like such an easy, adaptable thing to make. So I thought I'd try it using some pumpkin as part of the wet stuff, and adding pumpkin spice (cinnamon / ginger / nutmeg / allspice - also cloves but I didn't feel like grinding any), pumpkin seeds, pecans, maple and brown sugar to max out the pumpkinny/autumnal-ness. Happily I still had pumpkin puree in the freezer from last Autumn, so us being totally out of season for pumpkin was no big deal.

3 cups oats (old-fashioned)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup pecan pieces
good pinch (1/4 tsp) desert (or sea) salt
1-2 tbsp ground linseed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup pumpkin (or squash) puree
3 tbsp refined coconut oil (liquid state)
1/2 tbsp maple syrup + 1/2 tbsp maple cream
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp date molasses
1 tsp vanilla essence

Heat the oven to 350F. Mix the oats, pumpkin seeds, pecans, salt, ground linseed and spices in a medium-large bowl. Put the pumpkin puree, coconut oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, date molasses and vanilla in a small bowl and beat with a fork until smooth. Add this liquidy mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with your hands until well combined. Spread onto a large baking sheet (with edges) and put in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, taking out every 10 minutes or so to move the granola around with a wooden spoon and check it is not burning. When it is lightly browned it is done. Take it out of the oven and allow to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container to store.


Came out yummy. I was a little underwhelmed by the pumpkin / spice flavour at first: it tastes good (toasty) but not intensely pumpkinny. But the next day it smells lovely when I open the jar, and the taste is definitely there.