Fine Herb Fry Up With Spiced Apples and Bacon

Sometimes heading over the road for a croissant is just the inspiration one needs for a aromatically spiced and herbed breakfast.

Fresh thyme and milk tossed eggs, cinnamon-cardamom-nutmeg spiced assorted apples, bacon, and warm croissant with tea.
Go for it!

Caya 2012.

Classic Split Pea Soup - with Bacon! - And Winter Greens Maple Mustard Salad

My family has a Caya-specific split pea soup. I have loved its simplicity over the years, and I certainly will continue to use it throughout the cold months, but this time around I was wanting something special to touch it up. What could that possibly be...?

Bacon.

A good, thick package of organic bacon, strips that actually had a large amount of meat on them, crisped up to ruddy, crumbly chunks for adorning the complimentary shade of green!

Full recipe available upon request:

Featuring fresh chopped flat leaf parsley and bacon! Caya 2012.

Serve with a hearty winter-greens salad with homemade maple mustard dressing:

Arugula, Radicchio, & Endive mixed in with the last of the Radishes and a maple mustard dressing. Caya 2012.

'First of the Season' Ginger Pumpkin Pie

I may have mentioned last season that I like a good spicy pumpkin pie experience.

Now, I don't tend toward preparing my own pumpkin puree, though I have done it and it is lovely, but I do get a hold of a good organic pumpkin puree with which to create the spicy filling of my preference.

Farmer's Market Organic Pumpkin

Using 'Farmer's Market' Organic Pumpkin, I mix up eggs, condensed milk, generous cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and FRESH, finely chopped ginger root with the slightest (real) maple syrup and sea salt. Simple.
*You don't have to go with fresh ginger root. In fact, my mom always used classic dried ginger along with the rest of the spices. But I've been turned on to the experience out of not having the dried on hand. And truly, fresh chopped ginger has a different heat and presence in the filling than otherwise. It gives the pie another element, or a different fire. But maybe that is just me...

'Sweet' is not really the focal point with a good pumpkin experience, I find. It is the spice, the heated bite of the autumnal and wintery time of year, that gives it either success or failure. In fact, too much of a 'sweet' presence just ruins it for me. A good puree of pumpkin has enough 'sweet' flavor to begin with.

...With my basic homemade pie-crust, just savory and flaky enough. Caya 2012.

This makes a brilliant breakfast, even cold! A nice thick, tall slice will do me. Caya 2012.

Here's to bringing in the seasonal feasting!

'Rolled' Lasagna with Lemon Zest Asparagus & Parsley Garlic Bread

This came about in a rather unexpected way.

I was working from a recipe for ‘Autumn’ Lasagna, which used wonderful flavors and themes for a mushroom-centric, smooth and creamy experience.
My only complaint was that the recipe saw fit to utilize some unnecessary techniques to take a roundabout approach to constructing a result that was – while tasty – awkward to actually eat.

So, deciding to use the same flavors for my own reinvention of the idea at a later point, I still had leftover cooked lasagna. The strips were a bit messy, a bit torn, but perfectly usable in my eyes. I also had left over ricotta, spinach, and sauce, so…

The result was rolled wedges drenched in sauce and some Parmesan, baked to oozing perfection! I was so pleased with how simple yet flavorful they were, and much easier to dish out – just personal pockets! – than the layered, sloppy traditional counterpart.

Full recipe(s) available upon request:

'Rolled' Lasagna with Lemon Zest Asparagus & Parsley Garlic Bread. Caya 2012.

As it goes...Caya 2012.

 

Autumn Spiced Turkey with Pan-Roasted Garlic Green Beans & Peppered Wild Rice

Yes! Autumn is here - well, sure, it has been here for a little while - and it is splendidly chilly. Now we can bake more, indulge in the change of seasonal produce, and prepare more warming foods. Smashing.

Moving into colder weather, a little while back I wanted something hearkening to summer while still welcoming in the warmer meals, and so I came up with the following.

Crunchy, mildly spiced, slightly sweet, and savory, all. Addictive, really. Caya 2012.

(Full recipes available upon request):

Using thin slices of organic turkey, I browned them briefly in a cast iron skillet with the beautiful cinnamon, cardamom, and clove combination, plus a little bit of sea salt.
 

As they cook, I place the turkey in the oven on warm. Caya 2012.

Meanwhile, local green beans roasted in another pan with a little garlic and black pepper. The flavor from pan roasting versus other methods of cooking, such as boiling, is quite delicious, not to mention appropriate for this time of year.

Don't cook until they are brown and mushy, for goodness sake! When they turn a vivid green and are tender, they are done. You don't want to cook all the nutrients out of them. Caya 2012.

All the while my wild rice was cooking away, with a little olive oil and a bay leaf in the water. Taking the leaf out once finished, I seasoned with a little wholesome unsalted butter and plenty of black pepper.

Oh, wild rice is my favorite kind! So flavorful and earthy.

Enjoy.

Remnants of Summer VII: Pan-Roasted Ginger Lime Cauliflower with Vegetable-packed Madras Curry & Basmati

I comment on my interest in learning more of Indian cooking in my previous curry post here. I also show what I currently use for a curry sauce, as it is quick, deeply flavorful, and a quality product supporting organic agriculture.

So, with that referral out of the way, this time it is Madras loaded with classic peas, carrots, garbanzo beans, onions, garlic, and fresh cilantro, accompanied with my own pan roasted cauliflower featuring the bold balance of jalapeno, ginger root, garlic, and fresh squeezed lime.

(Full recipe(s) available upon request):

Talk about a vegetarian-themed meal. But I tend toward more produce than meat...Caya 2012.

Cauliflower is seriously under-rated and under-valued. Yummy stuff, people. Caya 2012.

Full plate, yes. Caya 2012.

Remnants of Summer VI: Miso Soup with Kombu, Broccoli & Cauliflower And Swiss Chard with Shallots & Garbanzo Beans

Comfort food, as the daughter of the Caya house knows it to be.

This stuff is liquid healing...soothing, settling, filling. Miso was a common kind of broth for me growing up, used for minimalistic healing soups when sick, in heartier vegetarian soups for dinner, and as flavorful components to other sauces and gravies my mom made.

Chard on the side is a great green, high in antioxidants with blood-sugar regulation properties! It's a yummy summer plant easily whipped up in five minutes. Add some olive oil, shallots, and savory garbanzo beans, and you're away.

(Full recipes available upon request)

Not my mother's miso soup recipe, but I've done that one. I'll have to post it as some point...Caya 2012.

Swiss chard, shallots and garbanzo beans with a little sea salt to taste. Caya 2012.

Remnants of Summer V: Banana Anise Seed Pancakes & Large Fry-Up Version!

Raw, leafy, fresh foods are delicious and refreshing in the summer, naturally. And then you get those lovely, cozy mornings where nothing will do but to have a big fry-up. On these days - key note here - nothing else is eaten.

Now, most importantly in my philosophy of food, the point is never to be stuffed, or to feel gross. How horrific. Food is meant to be enjoyed, which includes the digestion stage as well, at least in my opinion.

The pleasure starts not with the first mouthful, but rather when you enter the kitchen and take out the smattering of ingredients you know you will need for the cooking process. And it is a process, but a pleasant one! I don't hold that fun things have to be quick. On the contrary...

I honestly don't know why I hadn't thought of this before, as it seems quite obvious to me now, but anise seeds with banana! The flavors compliment beautifully in a pancake.

(Full recipe available upon request)
First there is the simple but scrumptious pancakes-with-grease-cutting-grapefruit-on-the-side version:

Add extra wedges of ripe banana on top along with the tart compliment of grapefruit, Caya 2012.

To make, I use ripe banana wedges in the pancake batter, folding in gently at the end with the anise seeds, before ladling out in the cast iron skillet...

Batter being made...Caya 2012.

About three at a time in the pan...Don't be put off by jutting chunks of banana, the batter will cook up around them! Caya 2012..

And flip them once they've browned nicely on the first side, about 3-5 minutes. It gives a lovely crispy edge. Caya 2012.

One batch of batter makes a good bunch. I keep them warm in the oven until the last, naturally. Caya 2012.

Then - another day - I made a fry-up version of the same pancakes, with crispy bacon, sausages, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Scrummy things!
*Between versions I cleared up my system a bit with various seasonal and raw produce, and more water.

The fry-up version, with a few local organic sausages, bacon, sauteed whole cremini mushrooms, and zesty grape tomatoes, plus extra bananas and (real) maple syrup - only way to go. Caya 2012.

Note: If you have never tried halving some ripe tomatoes and frying them face-down in a cast iron skillet with a little butter, you are missing out on a delightfully juicy, zingy addition to savory french toast, eggs and bacon, or - as displayed here - the full works!
 
...And you really won't need any more food the whole day long. Keep up on water, and maybe indulge in a bit of strong ginger tea in the evening, before bed.

Remnants of Summer IV: Parsley, Radish, Wheatgrass, and Romaine

Vivid green, rosy crunch, spicy, biting, full flavors all pull together for a feast in Summer heat.

I use fresh herbs as large tufts in spring and summer salads, for health as well as flavor benefits.
With this meal, I added a side of kalamata and hearty green olives, some cubes of mild feta cheese, and left-over chunks of fennel-spiced chicken sausage from a previous dinner.

Caya 2012.

Remnants of Summer III: The Easiest Home Made Croutons

I've had some decent store-bought croutons, and I have no problem with well-made store bought food-stuffs at all, but my father made croutons, and his method was brilliantly simple. And by far more satisfactory than store-bought ones.

These are the off-shoot of my father's. It is truly so simple, subject to the flavors currently of your interest.

This batch I made a head of any forth-coming salad making, let them cool for a short while - munching all the while - and stored them away in an old yogurt container for mounds of fresh greens and vegetables.

Using a lovely loaf of roasted garlic clove artisan bread, I did as the following images show:
 

Slicing roughly half an inch to an inch both ways to create fairly consistent cubes...Caya 2012.

Tossing in a bowl or a bag with generous olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and herbs of choice - in this case oregano...Caya 2012.

Once they bake in the oven until golden brown and crusty, this is the result. So aromatic! They can be quite easily munched then and there...Caya 2012.

And on a salad...with garbonzo beans, grape tomatoes, avocado, and home made honey mustard dressing:

Incredibly filling with the balance of beans, greens, summer fruits, and croutons. Caya 2012.

Remnants of Summer II: Slivered Zucchini Parmesan Omelette

I had never tried this before, but with a left-over wedge of zucchini in the fridge and a terrible wish to not waste the gorgeous thing, I tried to fix up an interesting idea.

(Full recipe available upon request):
Using a peeler, I stripped off a pile of beautifully emerald slivers of the vegetable, then sauteed them in a cast iron skillet with some oregano, basil, and butter.

Wonderfully aromatic and comforting. Caya 2012.

Add beaten eggs, some whole or soy milk, plenty of freshly mortar-and-pestled black pepper, some sea salt - but not much! - and a dash of parmesan cheese, pour in over the zucchini once it has cooked to softened green with a little browning, and grab a spoon for maneuvering your omelette into being.

Roughly rustic, but good. Caya 2012

 And serve...with ruby slices of grapefruit, to balance.

Caya 2012.

Remnants from Summer I: Whole Grain Spicy Grilled Chese & Warm Garlic Tomato Dressed Baby Spinach Salad

I've been away a bit, in addition to Summer having been a light, fairly fresh or raw-food intensive lazy season, so here follows some catch-up of a few feature kitchen endeavors.

Remnants of Summer I

Crusty, earthy brown, textured whole grain bread from the local bakery's 'half-day' sale - or something the like - is ideal for a little bit of soft melted Munster with spicy mustard and sliced tomatoes. I like to accent nearly anything with giant fistfuls of raw greens in the summer too, so I indulged in the ridiculously simple, solid flavors of garlic, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and jewel-red grape tomatoes on the side.
*See more for the warm-dressed spinach salad here!

It is straight forward and seriously satisfying!

Caya 2012.

I haven't had much time to post the various experiments and flavors from the last bit of summer - work with the illustration side of my life is taking focus, generally - but check out this mouth-watering dedication to local, wholesome, and vivid foods!

You may discover your solution to this evening's dinner dilemma by taking a brief browse.

Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA Recipe Group

Their latest feature:

'Fennel, Arugula, and Radicchio Salad with Shaved Pecorino'
*Recipe courtesy of KCET.org

Tomato & Kalamata Omelette with Peach Toast

(Full recipe available upon request)

Simple, easy breakfast featuring the egg, but a good pan-full of olives, tomatoes, onion, parsley, sea salt, and black pepper, and you've got something mildly Mediterranean for a good start.

A good triangular slice serves up a filling plate. Full omelette serves two hearty, hungry folk, to four folk sharing a broader breakfast spread. Caya 2012.

Warm Balsamic Tomato Spinach Salad with Sharp Cheddar and Turkey Meatballs

(Full recipes available upon request)

A play on a previous salad experiment, with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, and olive oil warmed with balsamic vinaigrette and tossed in baby spinach. Some sharp cheddar and homemade turkey meatballs seasoned with onion and pepper corns dress the salad for a hearty, mounding meal.

Salad tossed in the skillet used for the 'dressing' preparation. Caya 2012.

Plate of mounding salad topped with several large peppery turkey meatballs. Caya 2012.

First of the Season Apple Cardamom Galette

As I said, baking in the summer is not preferred, but on those cooler days, a good thing, and when it comes to galettes, on whatever day, a thrill.

I'm sure I'll go for plenty of the summer stone fruit versions before the season is out, but at my local market, where a stand with perfect cherries, apricots, plums, et cetera usually is full, I found what they called 'transparent apples'. It is a pale apple best used for cooking due to its tart bite, originally from nineteenth century Poland.

(I had already chopped up a couple apples before I thought to take a picture)...Transparent Apples. Caya 2012.

I tried a few bites as I chopped them up for the galette filling; they were quite sharp and zingy, rather good. I loved the idea of a savory, hardly sweet fruit galette heralding the later autumn apples.

So, I went highly minimal, gladly. Just some honey, a little cinnamon, a little more cardamom, and that was it! The beauty of this version is to celebrate the pale summer tang of the feature ingredient.

Classic galette crust was quickly mixed and rolled out in a flury of flour as the morning quickened, and shortly I was dabbing on egg and putting them in to bake!
What, half an hour later, they were out and cooling.

(Full recipe available upon request):

Cooling in the morning light. Caya 2012.

Enjoy as they are; absolutely no need for a dairy topping or an extra douse of sweetener! Caya 2012.

They turn out flaky and golden without, warm and soft within, wanting nothing but a fork.

Gorgonzola Feature III - Kalamata, Tomatoe & Artichoke Pastry with Cool Cucumber Parsley Salad

In the drowsy yet conscious state before sleep, I fancied up the idea to use the last of my gorgonzola on a pastry while the refreshingly rainy weather was on us.

Using the oven is not preferred in the summer, particularly when it is a frequently 95 degree summer, but the occasion arises for it, here and there. So, going with an Italian theme of late, I made this:

(Full recipe available upon request)

Using a little parmesan, thinly cut red onion, ripe tomato, roman-style marinated artichoke, kalamata olives quartered lengthwise, two free range eggs beaten in with fresh parsley, a little sea salt, a drizzle of olive oil, and gorgonzola, I layered it all for the pastry before baking it for about 15 minutes at say, 370 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile I chopped up three beautiful cucumbers from a local farm and dressed it with more parsley and a light balsamic, safflower oil, sea salt combination.

Layering on...Caya 2012.

With cheeses now. Caya 2012.

Fresh from the oven and cooling. Caya 2012.

Cut into generous squares and served with cooling cucumber parsley salad. Caya 2012.

Gorgonzola Feature II - Warm Summer Orzo

I had a bunch of orzo pasta left lying around in my cupboard, and I decided it wanted some to-do.

Going with my recent Gorgonzola celebration, I came up with this:
(Full recipe available upon request)

I dressed my orzo pasta with bite sized asparagus sauteed until tender with garlic and shallots in olive oil, chopped in fresh grape tomatoes, halved, added sea salt and plenty of ground black pepper, a large handful of fresh basil, half of a lemon - for the juice - and a small dusting of parmesan with a reserved crumbling of gorgonzola.

Lemon and basil provide a zesty lightness to the strength of the cheeses and the garlic, and the tomato and the asparagus keep the dish thick with summer garden life.

 

Gorgonzola Feature I - Grilled Tomato and Turkey with Gorgonzola

I've mentioned before how my favorite cheese just may be gorgonzola - from a little town in Italy of the same name - and while I don't get the stuff all the time, I take quite a liking to it with each fresh experimentation. This last batch yielded some scrumptious concoctions.

It is hardly a 'recipe' per say. Summer dishes rarely are, you'd think, given the freshness and the immediacy of warm-weather preparation.

Hearty rustic bread, turkey ham from the market, ripe, runny red tomatoes, and the big cheese - Gorgonzola, hand-crumbled, naturally. (That is part of the fun, getting the fingers all tickled with white crumbs to be licked off).

Grill in the cast iron skillet with a little unsalted butter and pair with a heaving bowl of vivid summer greens of whatever variety, and you have yourself a true feast.

Don't worry about minimal ingredients, the intensity of flavors with cheese, ripe tomato, and meat leaves no room for wanting. Caya, 2012.

Quick Korma Curry with Cod, Basmati, and Summer Squash

I am not yet at the level of making my own indian curry from scratch, although I am familiar with some methods and have observed how easy they are. I will very much like to try it out myself at some point here, but for now, I like to support 'Seeds of Change' from my local grocery store's organic section, and use their various simmer sauces:

http://www.seedsofchangefoods.com/our_foods/

 The link above is for Seeds of Change food products - like their simmer sauces - and recipes, but at the following link you'll find their information and more. Founded in 1989 to protect organic produce as well as preserve endangered heirloom varieties, they also supply to school gardens to help future generations!  http://www.seedsofchangefoods.com/default.aspx

The Korma is a mild and creamy coconut curry, and whether cod is a sound Indian cuisine fish or no, I dressed it simply in sea salt and black pepper for the meal. Hey, I'm Irish, I like cod.

To go with the curry and fish, I wanted something straight forward and seasonal, so mounds of yellow onion, garlic, yellow summer squash and zucchini were coarsely chopped and cooked up with some of the curry spices - coriander, cardamom, etc.

The basmati was added with fresh coriander to garnish. 

You bet a mounded plate is the result, here. Caya 2012.

An Option for Avocado

I used to dislike avocados as a child, largely because my only awareness of how they could be used was for guacamole, and friends of the family never made guacamole well.
It was through my working for a local Wilderness Skills School that I was reintroduced to the fruit's simplicity.

The flavor of an avocado is so wonderfully bland, in a verdant, creamy way, that you can use it with such playful versatility. Even munching buttery spoonfuls of it straight with a zing of lime juice is delicious.

I was a convert to the avocado as an imperative sandwich component about six years ago. I now frequently find new ways to incorperate the stuff on different summer fixes, with meat, cheese, just a bunch of vegetables, or any combination thereof.

This sandwich seems too simple, perhaps too boring, but the flavors and textures involved make up for any lack.

I get a favorite bread - salted Basque - from the bakery down town, which has a rustic savory quality that I think goes well with this sandwich, but use what you like. I also use Safflower Mayonaise:

It is smooth, warm, with a beautiful earthy flavor, and a texture exactly like proper mayonnaise. Lovely stuff.

So, I spread the mayonnaise on the bread, I add turkey, turkey ham, or whatever from the local market, I cut and spoon out thick slabs of avocado to arrange over the meat, and I add a sprinkling of sea salt as well as a necessary several pinches of cayenne pepper! The result is an earthy undertone with salty meat and rich green avocado heated with just enough of spice. Yum.

Half an avocado for the one sandwich, I should think. Caya 2012.