pickles

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Alison Ashton — No Comments ↓

If you’re part of the NOURISH Evolution, you have a strong connection to your food. You like to know where it comes from, how it was produced and who was responsible for it.

And chances are, you also like to take matters into your own hands by growing your own food. Whether that means you cultivate a pot of herbs on a condo balcony (like me) or plant an extensive vegetable garden (like Lia), there’s no better way to know your food.

Whatever the size of your garden, you should check out the Union of Concerned Scientists’ new report, The Climate-Friendly Gardener: A Guide to Combating Global Warming From the Ground Up. It’s filled with practical tips for home gardeners – everything from skipping the gas-powered leaf blower and raking those leaves by hand to cultivating a planet-friendly lawn (yes, it can be done).

One of the smartest things you can do, says the UCS, is grow your own food. It saves miles that food has to travel from the field to your plate. And the food you grow extends far beyond the vegetable patch to include berry bushes and fruit trees.

We asked our Facebook community what they’ve planted in their gardens this summer, and it turns out NOURISH Evolutioners are avid home farmers. Here’s what we’re growing:

Tomatoes. We have a passion for tomatoes of all varieties. Try ‘em in our Tiny Tomato Sauce, Pico de Gallo or Grilled Fish in Parchment (made colorful and delicious with juicy cherry tomatoes). For an ultra-simple treatment, pop a batch of Nigel Slater’s Parmesan Tomatoes (recipe below) in the oven.
Herbs. You don’t need much space (or much skill) to grow a pot of herbs. Of course, you can snip a sprig as you need it to flavor a dish on the fly. Bumper crops can be turned into pesto (which freezes beautifully for a taste of summer well into fall); try our Basil-Mint Pesto or spicy Asian Pesto. They’re great on pasta, of course, but also use a dollop to enliven whole grains, grilled poultry or fish.
Cucumbers. Raw cukes add summery crunch to salads and sandwiches. We love them pickled, too. Try our Spicy-Sweet Pickled Cucumbers. They’re great with barbecue!

What are your top crops? We’d love to hear. Share here or with our Facebook crew.

Tastemakers: Easy Extras Add “Wow” to Your Food

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 1 Comment ↓

People ask me why the food they cook at home doesn’t taste as special what they get in restaurants. That doesn’t mean their home-cooked fare isn’t wonderfully delicious–it is–but I know what they mean: Cooking in restaurants often has an engaging complexity and nuance that’s a step up from home cooking.

There are many reasons for this. Chefs–good ones, anyway–are willing to track down top-quality ingredients. They’re not shy about using flavor-enhancing salt, butter and cream. Even more importantly, they take the time to prepare little extras that add flavor and texture to many of their dishes. I worked at a restaurant where the mayonnaise was always made in-house, as was the dough for the flatbreads. We made pureed garlic confit,* which was used to add mellow garlicky flavor to everything from salad dressings to lentils.

Thomas Keller has a similar preparation in his inspiring book, Ad Hoc at Home (Artisan), as part of a long chapter “lifesavers.” These include house-made nut butters, flavored oils, chutneys, jams and pickles, and they provide the delicious backbone for some recipes and the finishing touches for others.

Making a batch of Carnitas de Lia this weekend inspired me to make my own piquant finishing touch. As I rubbed the spices onto the pork shoulder, it occurred to me that I needed some pickled red onions, which are a traditional accompaniment to provide a refreshing tart-sweet, crunchy counterpoint to the rich pork and guacamole. And because they’re so easy to make, I put together the following Quick-Pickled Red Onions in, oh, about 10 minutes. They were great with the carnitas, and I’ve also been enjoying them tucked into quesadillas and, this afternoon, on an egg salad sandwich.

We have lots of other extras that are easy to prepare and will make your cooking anything but basic:

Homemade Mayonnaise: It’s a far cry from the jarred stuff and will elevate even the basics like egg salad.
Spicy-Sweet Pickled Cucumbers: I made these all summer long and basically ate them with everything.
Fragrant Curry Paste: Add this to a stir-fry, whisk a little into plain yogurt for a dipping sauce, combine a bit with mayo for a zesty sandwich spread, or stir it into some cream and chopped tomatoes to make a speedy curry sauce.
All-Purpose Asian Dipping Sauce: I’d whisk in a little cornstarch to make this an ideal stir-fry sauce, too.
Asian Pesto: It’s delightful over rice noodles and it makes a great sandwich spread; also try it whisked into a salad dressing.
All-Purpose French Lentils: Lia calls these “the little black dress of dinner,” since you can serve them as a side, toss them in a salad or enjoy them as an entree.

Once you start playing around with different ways to use components like these, you’ll see that the recipes aren’t the end goal, but the start–or end–of something extra-special.

* That garlic confit is super-easy to make: Place peeled whole garlic cloves in a saucepan, add enough olive oil to cover, and simmer until very tender. Drain, reserving the oil (because it now has wonderful garlicky flavor, too!), and mash the cloves with a whisk or a fork. Store the oil and garlic separately and use them within a week.

Spicy-Sweet Pickled Cucumbers

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Alison Ashton — 10 Comments ↓

These pickled cucumbers are inspired by the spicy-sweet pickles served at Saffron, a popular Thai takeaway in San Diego. Use thin-skinned Japanese, Persian, English or pickling cucumbers, and slice them as thinly as possible. If you have a mandolin or Japanese slicer, this a good time to use it; otherwise, just use a razor-sharp chef’s knife. Serve these pickled cucumbers as a refreshing summer side dish, or use them as a condiment in sandwiches and tacos. They’d be delicious on a sandwich or tortilla with Grass-Fed Beef Bulgogi and Fiery-Sweet Peach Salsa.

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