The winter farmers’ market here in Portland is in full swing, and I found a couple of new veggies and some old favorites on the day that it opened.

Kale

Kale is my favorite vegetable. Maybe just for right now, maybe for all time, I’m not sure. But it’s so good, and so easy. I’m learning that it’s also a great winter green, and I’m seeing it everywhere right now.

Here’s a really basic way to make kale. It’s quick, and will likely only include things you already have in your kitchen.

Easy Sautéed Kale

You’ll need:

• 1 bunch kale, cut or torn into smaller pieces
• sea salt
• olive oil
• lemon wedge

Optional: crumbled (cooked) bacon, 1 garlic clove (minced), grated Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet on the stove. If you’re using crumbled bacon or minced garlic, add this to the oil and let it heat just briefly. Add the kale and using tongs, turn the kale frequently, making sure that all pieces are coated and that it cooks evenly. It will cook down and wilt a bit. Throughout this process, sprinkle sea salt and squeeze lemon juice onto the kale as it cooks.

Finish with any/all of the following: sea salt, a squeeze of lemon, and shredded Parmesan cheese. Chris and I have had the kale with baked chicken and roasted cauliflower puree, and my girlfriends and I have just eaten it out of a bowl with our bare fingers. So, you know. Whatever your thing is.

I promise, this is the easiest way to make kale (that I know of) and it’s so flavorful!

Purple Haze Carrots

Moving on, I also found these Purple Haze Carrots while strolling through the market. I’d never, ever seen carrots this color before and I was intrigued, so I grabbed just enough for Chris and I to taste them. My plans were to roast them, but I ended up shredding the carrots into turkey meatballs that I made last week. These definitely need a second appearance in my kitchen, but they did work nicely with the ground turkey.

Sunchokes

One of my favorite Portland restaurants is Veritable Quandary (VQ). VQ blows my mind every time I’m there with their creative, seasonal dishes and emphasis on local foods. Last time I was there, I ordered a cup of the Sunchoke soup, not really being sure what sunchokes actually are (and then remembered a guest blogger’s post here on the Jerusalem artichoke and that I learned sunchokes were the same thing!).

I set out to recreate the soup, and found some sunchokes at the winter market. They look like fat ginger roots, don’t they?

Winter produce shopping is fun, right? What’s in your market these days?

Content provided by Alex Summers.

I don’t know about you, but nothing excites me more than the prospect of cooking something new after weeks of uninspiring meals. This time, that something new was a delicious and exotic dish that subtly brought home some great flavors from Southeast Asia: Thai Lemongrass Chicken.

I had been planning this meal ever since I compulsively bought a couple stalks of lemongrass a couple weeks back (the plant is maybe the cheapest item at Whole Foods, so I wasn’t risking much). I quickly did some research and came across an intriguing recipe for Thai lemongrass chicken. I had eaten the dish once before – on a trip to Thailand, in fact – and remembered it as altogether unique, authentic, and highly tasteful. As I was to soon find out, it is also quite simple to make.

But a busy work schedule precluded me from trying out my recipe for a couple weeks. During that tim,e I ate a hearty diet of what could best be termed disaster food – foods such as beans, pasta, rice, and various other items that come mainly in a box or a can. That lemongrass stalk in my fridge grew only more enticing.

Finally I had a free and opportune evening to cook. I whipped together my supplies, relaxed for a short while as I cooked in the kitchen, and then enjoyed a delicious dinner.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 2-3 chicken breasts
• 1-2 stalks lemongrass
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 large onion
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 tsp salt

And here’s what I did:

Cut the chicken breast into small pieces. Finely cut the onion and the lemongrass into small pieces. Heat oil at low heat in a frying pan. Add the minced onion and lemongrass to the pan, and saute for several minutes. Add the chicken and stir thoroughly. Pour broth, coconut milk, and honey into the pan. Let the dish simmer until the sauce has thickened. Turn off the heat and add salt to taste

I then mixed my chicken with a bed of white rice. As I ate and savored the delicious flavors, I felt myself being transported back to Thailand. The dish was fresh, minty, and far different from any other chicken recipe I’ve made. If you’re looking for something new, you really can’t go wrong giving Thai lemongrass chicken a try.

Enjoy!

Photo used with permission via Creative Commons license. Original photo here.

Chicken noodle soup, meet macaroni & cheese. Even before my culinary school days, I knew these classics would hit it off. The comfort they have brought me through breakups, stomach flus and hangovers could only multiply when combined. However, this wouldn’t be a typical romance between a steamy soup and a creamy noodle dish if a sexy, velvety French wildcard wasn’t thrown in the mix. It’s the man that our mothers warned us about. His accent almost as sharp as the indentations of his six pack, this foreign intruder is exactly what this story needs.

Ingredients

1 can (14.5 oz) chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta (macaroni, rotini, penne….)

1 piece of whole wheat bread, toasted

¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Recipe | Baked Chicken Noodle Soup

In order to get this heavenly helping of soup done within thirty minutes, you definitely need to multitask!

Heat the chicken stock in one pot as you boil water for pasta in another. The water should taste as salty as the ocean! As you wait for your water to boil, go ahead and make your veloute. Melt butter* in a sauce pan over medium-low heat and whisk in the flour. Whisk this mixture until it becomes pasty in texture and blond in color. Whisk the hot stock into your roux (Congrats, you have made veloute!). In total, cook the veloute for twenty minutes in order to eliminate any raw flour taste. Once your water is boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente (the pasta will have a slight bite to it). Drain pasta thoroughly and add to veloute. Mix in half of your cheese and add pasta mixture to muffin tins that have been sprayed or buttered.  Crumble toasted bread over the pasta and sprinkle with leftover cheese. To finish, put pasta under the broiler on high and serve hot as a side** dish!

Mix it Up

If you’re counting calories, replace the butter with a whipped version or olive oil/butter combination AND/OR replace the whole milk cheese with a part skim version.

If you’re a vegetarian, replace chicken stock with vegetable stock. Add cooked diced vegetables (celery, carrots) or frozen veggies to the mix. To make a complete protein without meat, replace the bread crumbs with toasted nuts like pine nuts (whole grain pasta + pine nuts = complete protein).

*Yes, in the classic culinary world clarified butter is used to make a roux. However, for our purposes it’s not necessary. Plus who’s got time for that?

**If you’re making this as an entrée, add diced chicken or sliced ham and vegetables.

One of the best things about the holiday season is the food, right? Right. There are so many traditions around Thanksgiving feasts, holiday parties, Christmas breakfast, and winter cocktails. I’ve got my favorites for each of those categories, but nothing’s quite as awesome as holiday party appetizers, amiright? I’d have to say that holiday party appetizers are one of my absolute most favorite traditions about this season. I mean, yes, the music, lights, giving, loving, friends, and family are all wonderful things about this season but let’s be honest. I’m going to make this about food.

Here’s the thing about Deviled Eggs: these are so, so easy to customize with different flavors and textures and the possibilities for creativity and flavor are endless. I’ve heard of people adding bacon, onions, shrimp, cheese, etc., so the possibilities are endless. I’ve always sort of prided (is that a word?) myself on my deviled eggs. They’re not that crazy, and sure, there are PLENTY of ways to spruce them up a bit. But my go-to recipe is simple, slightly sweet, and packed with just the right amount of flavors. And here it is:

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise (my recipe for homemade mayonnaise)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 1-2 teaspoons Cholula Hot Sauce (or, if you’re really adventurous, Sriracha)
• paprika

As a note, I halved the relish for the recipe I made because some crazy man I live with doesn’t like relish. The measurements here reflect the correct amount for the full recipe, but if you’re adapting this for pickier eaters, split it accordingly.

Instructions

This is the most basic way I make my deviled eggs, and I think this recipe provides the absolutely perfect canvas to whatever you want to do with it.

Hard boil the eggs. Let them cool completely before trying to handle them. Trust me, these get hot. Don’t burn yourself. If you’ve got time, you can let them cool to room temperature, then let them chill in the refrigerator for a half hour or so. I don’t have that kind of time, so I soak them in a bowl of ice water for about 20 minutes. Like this:

ice, ice baby

Once the eggs have cooled, slice them in half, length-wise.

Scoop the yolk out of each of the eggs into a bowl and mash with a fork.

Add the mayonnaise, mustard, sweet relish, and hot sauce. Note that you can adjust the hot sauce according to your preference. Less spicy, less sauce. More spicy, more sauce. You get it.

Spoon back into the hollowed-out eggs, and top with a sprinkle of paprika. If you’re feeling really fancy, garnish with parsley.

Another note: adding the relish thins out the filling a little bit, so if you prefer yours a bit thicker, scale back on the mayo a bit. Or, do what I do and stick them in the fridge for about a half hour to firm them up a little.

Willamette Egg Farms EGG-cellent Holiday Facebook Contest

I entered the top photo on this post in the Willamette Eggs Farm EGG-cellent Holiday Facebook Contest because there’s a prize of a Visa gift card worth $100. Those are my favorite kind of prizes. The ones that are money. Or that act like money. A $100 Visa gift card definitely acts like money.

First of all, a brief lesson for you non-Pacific Northwesters. Repeat after me:

“It’s the Will-AM-it, Dammit.”

Not WILL-uhh-mette, but will-AM-it. Rhymes with dammit. Ok, now that we’ve got that covered.

How are you using eggs this holiday season?

Create your favorite EGG-cellent Holiday dish and post a photo on the Willamette Egg Farms Facebook. More specifically, from their contest rules:

Show us how you’re using eggs this holiday season! Share an original photo of your favorite holiday recipe or tradition featuring eggs on our Facebook wall. The photo with the most Facebook likes will take home a $100 Visa gift card to help cover holiday groceries, so share your photo with friends to boost votes!

Official details and timelines can be found here. Pretty cool, huh?

Disclosure: I got a nice little Visa gift card from Willamette Egg Farms to help cover the groceries for this dish, in exchange for sharing the news about their Facebook contest with you fine folks. Now, go forth and enter — and let me know if you do, so that I can vote for your photo!

UPDATE!!! We have a winner! Congrats to Jenn, Commenter #1! Jenn, I’ll be in touch via email to confirm your shipping information. Thanks to all who entered!

(Note: I used numbers 1-4 for my four commenters because I didn’t include my reply (the fifth comment) in the tally, obviously. So, Jenn, Ali, Terra, Alexa. 1, 2, 3, 4. Yeah, you get it.)

While my food habits are still nicely balanced between all the major, official, food groups – market fresh veggies, creamy mac and cheese, and mini carrot cake cupcakes – I recently joked that 95% of the things I drink come mostly from plants of some sort: wine, coffee, tea, soymilk (coffee creamer), kombucha, beer. I occasionally drink regular (cow’s) milk, but I can’t remember the last time I had soda, and I avoid sugary juice drinks when I can (exception: orange juice in mimosas!), because I don’t like the way they make me feel. And I don’t like the taste of super fake-sugary things. If I’m going to get my sweet tooth on, it’s going to be cupcakes, macarons, truffles, cheesecake, you get the idea… but I digress.

When CalNaturale contacted me about a couple of their products, namely the wines and the Svelte shakes, I jumped at the chance to try them.

Here’s why:

• Made with organic and all-natural ingredients
• Developed with a unique blend of organic complex carbohydrates, including rice syrup solids and inulin which help keep you fuller longer
• Offers 16g of protein from fresh organic soymilk and provides a good source of fiber in each serving
• Low-glycemic, non-dairy, cholesterol-free and certified gluten-free, featuring a fresh organic soy milk base and sweetened using Stevia
• Certified kosher by Orthodox Union (Circle U)
• Packaged in convenient, re-closable and eco-friendly Tetra Paks
• Available in four naturally delicious flavors including Chocolate, French Vanilla, Cappuccino and Spiced Chai.  Each 15.9 ounce container is value-priced at $2.99

CalNaturale Svelte Protein Shake

First of all, let it be known that I’ve never really been one for meal-replacement protein drinks. Many years ago, I tried the Carnation Instant Breakfast mixes and found that it was a fine substitue for chocolate milk, but absolutely not for an actual meal. At least not for me. I’m not a breakfast-skipper. I love my morning meal.

That being said, I mentioned that to my contact at CalNaturale, and said that I’d more likely be trying the four flavors of shakes as an almond milk substitue in my Green Monster smoothies. As it turns out, I’m not the first person to think of that! She sent over a couple of recipes for smoothies, and I can’t wait to try these.

These are the two suggestions they gave me, using the CalNaturale Svelte Shakes:

Svelte Smoothies

• Chocolate-Banana Bliss: 1 CalNaturale Svelte Chocolate shake blended with 1 banana and 1 cup of ice
• Cappuccino Crush: 1 CalNaturale Svelte Cappuccino blended with 1 cup of ice (so easy!)

Those sound amazing, but I love my greeeeeeen smoothies, so I’ll probably throw some spinach in with these for my version of them.

If you’re not a protein drink kind of person (though the French Vanilla one is a treat in and of itself!), these are also a great substitute for coffee creamer, which I’ve been searching for ever since I realized that there was no actual hazelnut in my favorite coffee creamer. That the “hazelnut” was a manufactured flavor. Soy and coconut creamers work, but I’ve been looking for something different. Any of these four flavors (Cappuccino, French Vanilla, Chocolate, Spiced Chai, each $2.99) would be amazing additions to your morning coffee.

CalNaturale Wines

Since life is about balance, let’s talk about wines. These wines are the first and only California wines made from certified organically-grown grapes. There’s a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon (’tis the season for rich, smooth reds!) and 2009 Chardonnay. The cab was recently named to the “Top 10 Red Wines $15 and Under” at the 2011 World Value Wine Challenge (I wonder if they’re looking for judges…). Since more than 90% of US wine is sold at $20 or less, this is a pretty big deal of an award! The eco-friendly Tetra Pak packaging that has half the carbon footprint of bottled wines is also a huge bonus.

I also happen to think they’re delicious. In fact, I’m drinking the Cab right now.

Win a Cab Sauv and a Chardonnay from CalNaturale

You can win these!

CalNaturale is providing a tasty wine 2-pack for a lucky reader of Nomadic Foodie. The winner (MUST be 21+ to enter/win!) will win both the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2009 Chardonnay. There are three chances to win(e) — ha… — and each entry must be left as a separate comment:

To Enter: 

1. Leave a comment below letting me know what your favorite wine is right now. Tell me the grape, the vineyard, the winemaker, whatever.
2. Tweet about the giveaway, using this tweet: “Enter to win two bottles of wine from @CalNaturale on @nomadicfoodie: http://wp.me/p1jZgT-DH.”
3. Like Nomadic Foodie on Facebook.

The contest will end Friday night, December 9 at 11:59pm PT. I’ll notify the winner by email (and if I remember, I’ll announce it here) over the weekend. CalNaturale provided the wines and smoothies so that I could try them, and are providing the prizes for the giveaway winner. Wine for everyone!

Plan a getaway with our travel magazines.

Welcome to Day Four of Four in this series: “An Education in Food | De-Mystifying Fancy Food Terminology.” In case you missed the last three posts, I recently attended a winemaker’s dinner at Seattle’s Hotel 1000, which inspired a whole lot of culinary learning in this little foodie.

I’ve spent some time breaking down terminology like the difference between tartare and ceviche, whether Cinderella pumpkins are real vegetables or simply Disney icons, and what exactly braising, oxtail, and sugo means.

Today, for the final installment, we take a look at the sweeter side of the meal.

Pomegranate Sorbet

Why sorbet? Simply enough, this is used as a palate cleanser between meals. The French word for this is entrements and literally means “between servings.” Sorbet is offered between servings to cleanse the palate and offer a little light, fresh, sweetness between courses.

Apple Tarte Tatin

lemon curd ice cream
paired with: Upland Estates 2008 Ampeli Ice Wine

I can figure out what you mean when you say you’ve got an Apple Tart. But Tarte Tatin? What’s that mean?

According to Wikipedia, a Tarte Tatin is an upside-down tart in which the fruit (usually apples) are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. A friend of mine recently made an Apple Tarte Tatin for dessert. A skillet had been filled with caramelized apples and a flaky crust was on top. Just prior to serving, we flipped the skillet over onto a plate so that the apples were on top of the crust. It’s like… a pie with no top crust. Or, exactly as Wikipedia stated — an upside-down apple tart.

An Education in Food

Attending this dinner was a delicious inspiration for my own culinary exploration and I hope this breakdown was useful to you as well!

Blue’s Egg Round Dos & Tres – With Considerably More Adventurous Breakfast Plates

The only downfall to visiting a town who has already boasted a delightful breakfast joint in your palatable collection is the slim fear of venturing somewhere slightly less tasteful (literally) and not paying homage to the tried and true that you can vouch for yourself.

For a breakfast lover, this can be scary. Very scary, I assure you.

This was my dilemma in Milwaukee last week before heading to Green Bay for my first experience at Lambeau for Monday Night Football against the Vikings. Not only did my green and yellow Sauconys head for that strip mall diner once, but twice. Two days in a row!

Since I’m on this new string of trying to stay positive, there are a few positives for venturing into familiar territory, especially when it comes to food.

1. You already know the place is good. You know what to expect.
2. With or without GPS, you can probably find your way back to the confines of said greasy spoon.
3. You are ready to try something you wouldn’t have on your first adventure. Or your second.

If you’ve read any of my breakfast posts here on Nomadic Foodie, you know I tend to remain rather unimaginative in my choice of breakfast plates. It usually consists of eggs (cooked over-medium), some form of meat (preferably sausage links, not patties), and hopefully some variation of a new take on French Toast. You say boring, I say classic.

Here’s how my delicious breakfast panned out late Sunday morning:

Blue’s Egg was PACKED. I mean, jam-packed with a thirty-minute wait. The hostess suggested I “gently stalk” the counter bar and wait for a seat to open up. Jackpot. And it was twenty-minutes less than my originally quoted wait time.

Maybe it’s a Milwaukee thing, but it seems weird to offer any beverage with breakfast other than coffee, juice and/or the occasional bloody mary or mimosa. But of course, it being Milwaukee, the land of many alcoholics in my family (true story), it had a fully stocked bar with two flat screens boasting two different NFL Sunday games. Jackpot again. Unless you’re an alcoholic or hate football. But a table in the backroom could remedy those issues.

I was nursing a cold one and truly couldn’t decide what to order so I went for a slew of indecisive side orders, which would surely only make Golden Corral proud. I got the Berry Smothered French Toast (with almond crumble, white chocolate sauce and blueberries for $7.95) plus a side of eggs ($3.95, I believe)) as well as a side of the infamous Blue’s Browns (hand-cut, house-made hashbrowns for $2.95) and a coffee. Note, they serve “large, cage-free brown eggs which are locally sourced from small, family farms” (indicated on their menu).

Rule of thumb when ordering breakfast – the sides quickly add up. That breakfast was well over $20 (including tip), although it served every bit of the diversity my palette was craving.

Here’s how my delicious breakfast panned out Monday morning before the 2.5-hour trek to Green Bay:

And here, finally, is where I got all crazy. For the past two visits to Blue’s Egg, I had been eyeing (and I mean eyeing in a super creepy, almost uncomfortable way) the PB & Bacon, Banana on Egg Bread sandwich under the Walking Favorites section on the menu ($8.95 with Yukon fries which I swapped out for the crispy hashbrowns again).

Somewhere on one of my latest travel journeys, I fell back in love with the banana and peanut butter combination. Perhaps and quite likely, it was in Graceland since every dive there serves that in tribute to Elvis. Or it might have been the weekend prior at Texas Motor Speedway where I crammed a piping hot FRIED PB&J doused in powdered sugar into my mouth. Regardless, everywhere I go I’m on the hunt for something PB&J’ish.

Both days I asked my server if they liked the PB & Bacon, Banana on Egg Bread sandwich and both days the servers admitted never trying it. Both did however admit that the very few people that braved this order raved about it. OK, done deal. As Kirsten Dunst would say: Bring. It. On.

The sandwich was good, but definitely not the best thing on the menu. I think in part, my order was induced just for something a little edgier to write about here on Nomadic Foodie. I mean, how many times do you want to hear about my tired ole sunny-side up eggs, right?

And while my friendly waiter that day swears he’s served that sandwich before, I beg to differ. He kept walking by staring in amazement and continually asking if I liked it. Either he lied and had never served one before, or he was just smitten with the fact a little girl in a Green Bay t-shirt was shoving the peanut butter gooeyness in her face. I am quite sure no female has ever ordered that sandwich.

Blue’s Egg | Milwaukee, WI

Blue’s Egg is open from 7AM-2PM everyday (serving breakfast the entire time) and to-go orders are available everyday except Saturday and Sunday.

Blue’s Egg | 317 N 76^th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53213 | 414.299.3180 | bluesegg.com

Check this out for great recipes, reviews and more.

Kellogg’s has nothing on these Homemade PopTarts

Twitter, you’ve done it once again – you made me fall in love with a new breakfast joint – this time in Washington, DC at Ted’s Bulletin. As with most of my travel, I put out feelers on Twitter for a good place to eat breakfast and a few select few came back with rave reviews of Ted’s Bulletin on Capitol Hill. A few also questioned why I was asking about breakfast at 1pm on a Thursday afternoon, but that’s beside the point. Apparently these tweeps aren’t well versed in my breakfast addiction when I travel.

It’s true – I’m not a hard person to please when it comes to breakfast. As I’ve said before, I like the typical eggs, sausage links, and light and fluffy wheat toast kind of breakfast and on the rare occasion, I’ll up the ante and order some French Toast. After my visit to Ted’s, I don’t even care that I’m still single – I have fallen head over heels, crazy in love with their homemade poptarts. And not the pre-baked, rectangular, preservative-charged toaster pastries from Kellogg’s – I’m talking homemade goodness that can’t possibly be topped by even Paula Dean on her finest day.

Ted’s Bulletin already won me over with their old-timey feel and of course the fact they serve breakfast All. Day. Long. The way breakfast should always be served. The menu was pretty diverse, but I opted for a fairly traditional plate (although HUGE) – The Big Mark ($12.79) which comes with 3 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, hash browns, toast AND a homemade poptart.

Not a bad meal, especially considering it was a breakfast/lunch composite. I went for the strawberry poptart and my friend Kasey went a much more adventurous route with the chocolate and bacon version – both were out of this world delicious. The outside was perfectly flaky but still chewy and the inside was filled TO THE BRIM with fresh REAL strawberry jelly. Sitting at the bar top I noticed customer after customer come up the counter and order a piece of apple pie to go – after tasting that bad boy, now I know why. Another recommendation high on the list for you sweet lovers. Not sure how I didn’t go into diabetic shock after this visit, but I’m sure it would have been worth it.

The restaurant, which is owned by the same guys behind Matchbox  (a vintage pizza bistro) just a few doors down, was buzzing at lunchtime. As a matter of fact, the only 2 spots with lines during this particular lunch hour were Matchbox and Ted’s – I think that serves as Exhibit A that these guys know what they’re doing when it comes to running a business, not to mention a kitchen.

Next time you’re in DC (or even Northern Virginia or anywhere within a 50 mile radius), I highly recommend Ted’s Bulletin. As in, if I could force you to eat one of their poptarts and mail me 25 of them back to Houston, I would. But since I’m not into forcing things onto people, I’ll simply reiterate my recommendation. GO.

Note, they also have a large and tempting selection of Adult Milkshakes including tantalizing flavors such as Bailey’s Caramel Macchiato, Nutty Professor (with hazelnut liqueur), and a Dirty Girl Scout (with peppermint schnapps) for $8.95.

An all around authentic place with a good vibe and great menu, be sure to check out Ted’s Bulletin and let me know your thoughts.

Total Bill ~ 17.00 ($12.79 for the meal +coffee + a regular ole average tip.)

Ted’s Bulletin – | 505 8^th Street Southeast | Washington, DC 20003 | 202.544.8337

[Photo credit: All photos used with permission, by Kasey Marsh of Monkey Tree Photography.]

Today’s guest post is from Evan Thomas. Evan came in through the Contributor form recently and I love this post on the Jerusalem Artichoke, mostly since I hadn’t heard of it before. If you’re interested in contributing to Nomadic Foodie about recipes, your favorite restaurants, or anything else fun about food and travel, click here.

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My friend Tyler, who I’ve known since middle school, travels around the U.S. working on organic farms. He has no possessions except the contents of his hiker’s backpack and his trusty Hawaiian t-shirt, which he seems to wear almost everyday. Needless to say, Tyler knows what great food looks and tastes like – a fact I know from experience.

I once visited him on an organic farm in New Hampshire, where his main jobs were ‘preparing’ the chickens (I will spare the gory details), looking after the tomatoes and selling their produce at the local farmer’s markets.

Because of his close relationship with food, I was inclined to trust his judgment when he took me to the market one Sunday and introduced me to the Jerusalem artichoke.

The Root of It

Tyler always encourages me to eat foods that are ‘close to the Earth’, or unprocessed.

The Jerusalem artichoke, a root vegetable, for example, is directly from the ground (which, lest I state the obvious, is probably the closest you’re going to get).

If you’re curious about this topic there are tons of great books he recommended to me on the subject like: The China Study, Eating Animals, Omnivore’s Dilemma (my favorite), In Defense of Food, The Holistic Cook Book.

Grow A Pair!

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also referred to as a sunchoke, is a creamy marriage of a radish and fingerling potato. Marinate them in little salt and olive oil then stick them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, and you’ve got yourself a healthier version of French fries — It was love at first bite.

With Tyler’s recommendations, and a little plant research and comparison, I discovered that the Jerusalem artichoke:

• Is native to 48 U.S. states and Canada
• Has one of the highest plant densities per area of any plant and one of the smallest root depths, making it ideal for those of us with Tiny Farms and an affinity for root veggies.
• Has a high drought and temperature tolerance, which means the plant, is great if you live in unfriendly climates, because it’s tough enough for even the most environmentally rugged Tiny Farms.

All in all, if you have a personal garden and a slight addiction to root veggies, this is a great plant to consider growing.

In the market

If you don’t have a small garden or Tyler’s lifestyle, then your local farmer’s market will almost indubitably have these delicious little morsels.  I definitely consider the Jerusalem Artichoke as one of my top 5 favorite foods, all thanks to a weekend trip to a farm in New Hampshire.

Welcome to Day Three of Four in this weeks’s “An Education in Food | De-Mystifying Fancy Food Terminology.” In case you missed the last two posts, I recentely attended a winemaker’s dinner at Seattle’s Hotel 1000, which inspired a whole lot of culinary learning in this little foodie.

It was a delicious, five-course meal stuffed full of flavor and innovation, and a whole lot of terms I was only vaguely familiar with. With that in mind, I decided to spend this week breaking down terminology like the difference between tartare and ceviche, whether Cinderella pumpkins are real vegetables or simply Disney icons, and why some places serve sorbet in between courses.

Let’s review what we’ve covered so far:

• Amuse-Bouche, and the difference between tartare and ceviche
• Poached Pear and Little Gem Lettuce Salad, Cinderella Pumpkin Soup & Pork Belly Gougére

Today’s deep dive is into the two main entrees of the meal, which included duck and oxtail.

Cocoa and Coffee Dusted Duck

spiced carrots, parsnip puree, cherry coffee demi
paired with: Upland Estates 2007 Syrah

A demi-glaze (or demi-glace) is a combination of one part beef stock with one part brown sauce (often including Madiera — yum!, or sherry). It’s cooked down until it’s reduced which highly concentrates the flavor. This is used either alone or as the basis for another sauce. This particular demi was done with coffee and cherry flavors and was rich and decadent and sweet and savory all at once.

Braised Oxtail Sugo

ricotta gnudi, leeks, lacinato kale, chanterelles, parmesan
paired with: Upland Estates 2008 Old Vine Cabernet

This is going to be a fun one, with a lot to breakdown. Ready? Let’s go.

What is braising?

Braising is a cooking technique in which the main ingredient is seared (or browned) in fat and then simmered on low heat in a covered pot (source: The Reluctant Gourmet). I especially like this technique because it leaves the meat suuuuuuuper tender and also creates this sauce or gravy that’s so rich in flavor.

What’s an oxtail?

Here’s what I didn’t know (but should have, because, well, it’s just about exactly what it sounds like). I didn’t know what an oxtail was. For some reason, I thought it was poultry, until I tried it. Then I thought it was something like roast beef. Which, turns out was a better guess than poultry considering that oxtail is the tale of cattle. So, there’s that. (It’s really good, for the record).

What is a sugo?

A sugo, traditionally, is an Italian pasta sauce based on dried pork cheek (source: Wikipedia). Considering this is “braised oxtail sugo,” I’m going to put it together that this dish was Chef Roberts’ creative spin on that traditional pasta sauce and used the oxtail as the base instead of the dried pork cheek.

This whole dish was completely brand new to me (which I love).

Gnudi vs. Gnocchi

If you see those little white nuggets on the plate and then re-read the menu item and see gnudi, you might wonder (as I did): wait, gnudi? That looks like gnocchi. What’s the difference?

Gnocchi, literally translated as “lump,” is a small Italian dumpling that’s most commonly made from potato and flour is a dumpling made of potato or pasta, though it could be made from other ingredients such as sweet potato, ricotta, peas, or spinach.

Gnudi, on the other hand, is a “Florentine creation also known as gnudi ravioli (naked ravioli)… It’s usually made from…spinach or Swiss chard and ricotta, and very little flour…Think of them as loosely packed ravioli fillings shaped into little lumps…”. In the case of this entree, the leaves included were of lacinato kale (more information on this next).

 So, they’re pretty similar and it sounds to me as if the real difference is in how much potato or flour is used in the preparation of the little nuggets. All I know is that both take on sauces quite well, and both melt deliciously in my mouth.

[Source: NYMag.com]

I know what kale is. But specifically, what’s lacinato kale?

Lacinato kale is a type of kale commonly used in Italian cuisine, which makes sense considering it’s pairing with the Italian gnudi.

It’s known by a variety of other names including “Tuscan kale, Tuscan cabbage, Dinosaur kale, cavolo nero, black kale, flat back cabbage, palm tree kale, or black Tuscan palm.” [source] It’s slightly sweeter than traditional (curly) kale.

Finally, what are chanterelles?

Chanterelles are a type of mushroom (fungi). They’re popular, edible, and (according to Wikipedia) hard to cultivate. They were the absolute perfect addition to this dish.

What’s next?

Dessert! Stay tuned for a little Apple Tart Tatin and some information about Ice Wine.