Roasted Asparagus and Fennel

This week has been a complete whirl wind. In the past 72 hours I've gotten so much work done that I've even impressed myself. We're busy preparing for a 4 day show in Seattle this weekend that will have us on our feet from 9 in the morning to around 10 at night.

I've been doing little else, and although I've still been in the kitchen and cooking, it's mostly been familiar foods I make all the time that are quick and easy to prepare, while still giving us both nourishment for pulling all nighters. Makes me thankful that asparagus are in season right now because they are such an easy and fast cooking veggie to turn to on those days where you have little time to spend in the kitchen.

I also had a bit of fennel leftover from a salad I made earlier in the week. I hate to waste anything and it was getting close to its end, so I decided into the oven it would go, along with the asparagus. Have you even eaten roasted fennel? It really is a wonderful thing. Just as with many vegetables, it takes on a whole new depth of flavor, much different then its raw form. I know many people are turned off by fennel because of it's licorice like flavor when raw, but when roasted there's only a hint of it and it becomes something more complex and hard to describe, but well worth a try.

It's a holiday weekend in the US, so I'm sure many of you will be cooking on the grill outside. You can prepare the asparagus the same way right alongside what you're barbequing on the grill too. Prepare the asparagus as below, then place everything into a large piece of tin foil. Add the toasted nuts at the end however. Fold in the ends and sides so its all wrapped up and place it on the grill away from the center where the heat is the hottest. Depending on how firm you like your asparagus, you can cook it from 5-12 minutes. Remove from heat, open and serve. They'd make a perfect companion next to these teriyaki portobello burgers too. The hazelnuts were great with this, but almonds or walnuts would be other great options. If you'd like you can also add a few shavings of Parmesan at the end before serving.

Roasted Asparagus and Fennel

serves 4

1/2 pound asparagus, ends trimmed

1 small fennel bulb, cut into thin slices

2-4 whole garlic cloves

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400˚F.

Place the asparagus, fennel, and garlic into a baking dish or baking pan with sides. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss everything together with your hands to get an even coating.

Roast for 25-30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with hazelnuts and add more salt and pepper to taste if needed. Serve warm.

Mango Sorbet

With the sun out and shining these past few days, anything cool and creamy sounds about right. I had my mind set on making mango sorbet after picking up a few, but I had to wait for them to ripen up a bit. This gave me a little time to think about how I wanted to prepare it.

I decided I didn't want plain mango sorbet, I wanted something with an exotic spice type flavor. Then I found this recipe and thought I was getting closer to what I wanted. Mango is already a pretty sweet fruit so I new I'd be fine with reducing the amount of sugar in the recipe, but then a whole new idea found its way to me. Ice cream sweetened with dates. I've made lots of desserts and raw foods with dates in there to sweeten things up, but it never occurred to me to sweeten ice cream with them. I had to try it out.

What came out was nothing short of exactly what I wanted. Creamy, slightly spiced, mango sorbet without any added sugar, other than the natural sugars found in mango and dates. I was able to get the dates pureed enough that you can barely see any trace of them, they do however lesson the brightness of the mango color, but that's fine with me. I can't wait to experiment with more flavors and mixtures. It's going to be a tasty Summer!

If you'd prefer a brighter hew for your sorbet you can still use regular sugar. A half to three-quarter cup should do it depending on your sweetness preference. I'm not sure if it was the coconut milk that added the creaminess or the fruit to liquid ratio, but it was rather creamy to me for homemade sorbet. I might try to up the milk if I make this again, just to see how it turns out. I was out of coconut shavings, but I think they would make a great topping once toasted.

Mango Sorbet

inspired by Food & Wine and xgfx

makes about 2 cups

4 ounces pitted dates, about 1 cup

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup coconut milk or almond milk

2 whole cloves

1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped

2 large ripe mangoes, about 3 cups

In a small saucepan combine the dates, water, coconut milk, cloves, and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil, then remove from heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture into a bowl, but toss the dates back in with the milk mixture.

Meanwhile chop the mango into 1/2-inch pieces, place in blender and puree until the mango is smooth. Pour the milk mixture over the pureed mango. Blend thoroughly until smooth.

Refrigerate until cold, about an hour. Once cold pour into the bowl of an ice cream mixer and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Place the sorbet into the freezer until ready to serve. Pulling it out about 15 minutes to serving will make it easier to scoop and more creamy of a texture.

Meatless Monday with Martha Stewart: Asparagus & Quinoa Salad

I wait all year for the arrival of asparagus and then I eat them at least twice a week until the end of it. I usually like to keep it simple and roast them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon, but for this weeks Meatless Monday post over at Whole Living I've added them to a tasty salad for a complete and healthy meal. Get the recipe here.

Rhubarb Walnut Bread

There are three farmers markets, on three different days of the week near our place and each is only a short walk or bike ride away. I love having so much local fresh food at my fingertips and feel very thankful for it... even when I have to wait another couple more weeks for the stands to really fill up.

The markets started about two weeks ago, as they most likely did all over the country, but at the moment, the ones near me are showing minimal produce. This is because the NW had one of the coldest April's on record, so everything is off to a late start. Luckily there has been a few selling asparagus, oh I can't get enough of it (recipes coming soon!), but the other day I also managed to pick up some rhubarb too.

I have some of my own rhubarb, that was from my grandpas house growing in the garden, but since I just planted it and they're still pretty small, I decided I'd give them another year before picking.

So at the market, when I spied the long stalks of red and green, I loaded my arms up to fill my need and headed home. I grabbed enough for this bread plus extra to freeze for later use. I think I may load up even more to freeze so I can enjoy it throughout the Summer.

This bread isn't super sweet, but just sweet enough to really play off the tartness of the rhubarb. The crust is slightly crunchy and adds an extra sweetness and aroma of orange zest before you get to the tender bread center. I've given directions below for making homemade buttermilk with almond milk, but feel free to use real buttermilk and skip that step if you prefer. The whole wheat pastry flour can be replaced by white whole wheat or all purpose flour. This recipe can easily be doubled; eat one now freeze the other for later!

Rhubarb Walnut Bread

makes 1 loaf

topping

1/4 cup rolled oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon fresh grated orange peel

1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter, softened

batter

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar + a scant 1/2 cup almond milk (directions below)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup chopped fresh uncooked rhubarb

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a loaf pan, lining if you would like, I just greased mine.

Prepare the topping first. Place the brown sugar, rolled oats, orange peel and coconut oil in a small bowl. Stir to mix and set aside.

If you are using real buttermilk skip ahead to the next step. To make your own buttermilk, first place the 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar into a liquid measuring cup. Then pour in the almond milk to the 1/2 cup mark. Let sit for about 10 minutes while you prepare everything else.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium size bowl, set aside.

Place the brown sugar and oil into a large bowl and stir well to combine. Beat the egg and vanilla into the buttermilk mixture. Pour in with the brown sugar mixture and stir well to combine.

Gently fold in the flour mixture, just until combined. Fold in the rhubarb and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the top with the oat topping mixture.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto baking racks. Cool completely and store tightly wrapped. The bread will slice much more easily if left to cool completely.

No-Bake Pistachio & Cherry Granola Bites

I wasn't sure weather or not I'd be sharing these little cookie balls with you today. I experiment a lot in the kitchen and many times I'm lucky in that things come out just as I imagined in my head, but there are times things don't always work out as planned too. 

Everything was working out perfectly until I started to roll the sticky dough between my hands. The dough was much looser than I had imagined it would be, but I kept going thinking to myself at least they will taste good even if they don't look as pretty. But towards the end, as I was gathering the last few bits of dough together, they started staying together better. It was still a bit of a sticky mess, but they were holding together by themselves into little balls and it made me realize I just needed to let the dough sit for a bit before shaping them right away. In the instructions below I've allowed for a five minute rest before shaping the dough. If you live somewhere where it's super warm right now, you may even want to let the dough chill in the fridge a few minutes before shaping.

This little experiment came about because Scott and I will each be at two separate craft shows this Saturday. I usually like to make little treats for us to enjoy during the long show hours but thought it was especially important this time because we'll be split up making lunch and snacks much harder to pick up when there's only one of you. 

I wanted something granola bar like with oats, dried fruit and nuts to keep our energy up and I liked the idea of making them bite sized for a quick bite in between talking with customers. Right now they're packed up and ready to go in the freezer. I'd normally keep them in the refrigerator, but I'm hoping they'll keep their structure when we head out the door early tomorrow morning. 

If your interested, I will be in Seattle at the Intiman Theatre from 11-5pm for the Etsy Rain Show and Scott will be down in Portland, OR for the Crafty Wonderland Spring show. Stop by and say hello if you're in the area we'd love to see you there!

I'd imagine these little granola balls could work with any nut or dried fruit you'd like. You could even replace the maple syrup with honey for another option as well. Also, I used the most wonderful coconut oil in these. I love cooking with coconut oil whenever I can, not only because it tastes delicious but because it's really good for you too. A couple weeks ago a package was sent to me with a jar of Kelapo coconut oil. I'm always a little hesitant to review products here, but after reading more about the company I couldn't resist. Not only is it a 100% organic product, but they are also a fair trade company and it's tasty to boot. If you haven't added coconut oil to your diet yet I urge you to give it a go. It's really versatile and can be added in place of butter in many baked goods as easily as it can be added to sautes and savory meals. I'm curious if you've used coconut oil before and what you've used in in?

And to all the mother's out there here's wishing you a lovely Mother's Day weekend!

No-Bake Pistachio and Cherry Granola Bites

makes about 20 small balls

6 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup almond butter

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

1/4 cup dried cherries

Stir together the maple syrup, almond butter, coconut oil and almond milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Stirring constantly allow to boil for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, pistachios and dried cherries. Pour the almond butter mixture over the oats and stir until everything is well coated. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes to cool slightly. This will make it easier to make into balls. 

Have ready a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. Taking rounded tablespoons full of dough, roll and press together between your palms and place on the baking sheet. Once finished place in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes until the balls have hardened. Then enjoy!

Keep the balls stored tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Mexican Black Beans and Sweet Potatoes

If you've been reading this blog for some time now, or checked out my archives, you may have noticed that beans are a staple food in my kitchen. I prefer to buy them dried over canned mostly because I think they taste so much better, but it also doesn't hurt that they're much cheaper that way to. I do have canned beans for those days that I need a quick meal and haven't planned ahead, but cooking beans is really not very hard and I think you should give it a try if you haven't already. 

Place your desired amount of dried beans into a large bowl, then fill with water, covering the beans by about 2-3 inches. Let them sit overnight while you sleep or while you're away at work during the day. After letting them sit anywhere from 6-10 hours the beans should be plumper and the water level will have gone down. Now you can drain the beans and give them a good rinse before placing them into a large heavy pot and covering again with fresh cool water. I never measure anything when cooking beans, but I do always cover the beans a good 3-4 inches so I know there will be enough water when they start cooking. 

Place the pot with the water and beans over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Let the beans boil for about 5-10 minutes, then turn down the heat and cover, simmering for about 40-60 minutes. The cooking time can really vary depending on how long you let the beans soak, what variety and size they are, and depending on how fresh your beans are. The older they are the longer it will take for them to cook, so I recommend buying your beans from places with a high turn over. When they're cooked remove from heat, drain and store tightly covered in your refrigerator or freezer. This may seem like a lot of work, but the active time is really very little and you can cook a lot at once and eat them through the week or freeze them up to 4 or 5 months for later.

Having a large amount of beans already cooked and staring back at me in from the fridge, inspired me to use them up in a Mexican style dish. I grabbed my last sweet potato, added some spices, herbs, garlic and a jalapeño and drenched them with fresh lime juice for a tasty side dish that easily becomes a meal when placed inside corn tortillas and placed alongside some rice and salad.

If you're still looking for another side dish to accompany a Cinco de Mayo feast this week, this would make a great addition. I placed my avocado on top, but it would be great mixed in as well. Other great toppings would be salsa, grated cheese and sour cream. I recommend starting with half the juice of lime and tasting before you add more, it's not meant to overpower, but some people like a little extra pucker. Also this was not very spicy to me, if you want it spicier leave in some of those jalapeño seeds.

Mexican Black Beans and Sweet Potatoes

serves 4 as a main or 6 as a side

2 cups peeled and diced sweet potato, about 1 large or 2 small potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chile powder

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped

3 cups cooked black beans

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 lime

1 avocado, cubed

Preheat the oven to 450˚F. Toss the diced sweet potatoes in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, cumin, chile powder, and salt and pepper. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sweet potatoes have softened.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat the tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add to it the garlic and cook until it just begins to turn golden brown. Toss in the jalapeño, and beans. Cook until the beans are heated through, then turn off the heat.

Once the potatoes are out of the oven, add them to the bean mixture along with the cilantro and gently stir everything together. Squeeze juice of half the lime over everything, adding more to your taste. 

Serve garnished with avocado or any other topping you wish. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator.