Household Blog

This is a tried and true winner at the Purple House. I started making it one or two winters ago, and whenever I tell Damon that’s what’s for dinner, he gets excited. This is a lovely fall/winter dish, and as an added bonus, it goes together pretty quickly, just chop, mix, bake, and boil some pasta. I adapted this from a Rachael Ray recipe actually (for some reason I keep getting the magazine. I never ordered it. It’s weird. But whatevs.) I adapted it to make it gluten free obviously, and also to reduce the amount of pasta in the finished product—more veggie goodies!

So for the bulk sausage, we’ve tried and enjoyed hot sausage as well as sage sausage, both of which we buy from local farms—pork or lamb sausage. If you’re vegetarian, this would work fine with a marinated tempeh. Also, if fennel is hard to come by, you might try it with celery or even coarsely chopped cabbage—just be sure to let me know how it is!

Gluten Free Pasta with Fennel and Sausage

• 0.75 to 1 pound bulk spicy sausage (or sage)
• 1 large bulb of fennel, sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced in half circles
• 3 or 4 carrots, sliced on an angle
• 2 Tbsp safflower (or other high heat) oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 10 to 12 oz (2 to 3 cups) quinoa pasta elbows (0r other GF pasta)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• Parmesan, optional garnish

Preheat oven to 425. Combine first 6 ingredients (through salt and pepper) in a 9 x12 casserole, tossing to combine, being sure to break the bulk sausage up into bite-sized pieces. Cook 30 minutes or till the carrots and fennel are tender.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted water. Drain, shock with cold water, and set aside.

When sausage mixture is done baking, toss with the pasta and parsley. Serve hot, with a light sprinkling of parmesan or other hard cheese.

Apparently I’m feeling nostalgic this month. Did I tell you that I got more than a little verklempt (and more than a little pissed off) when I found out they canceled Gourmet magazine? The BEST magazine ever? Well, this recipe is a very distant cousin of a recipe in the big yellow book. Theirs is for winter vegetables in a horseradish butter sauce. Mine is a springy-er version.

Carrots & Radishes with horseradish herb sauce

• 1 bunch fresh carrots, scrubbed with ends still on (but leaves removed)
• several radishes—half as much as there are carrots
• 1/4 c. olive oil (or other oil or butter)
• 2 T. horseradish
• 1 1/2 T. white balsamic vinegar (or other)
• 1 t. honey
• 1 t. or so sea salt
• 2 T. fresh herb minced—dill, parsley, thyme, or a combination thereof
• fresh ground pepper to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together everything except the carrots and radishes. Set aside.

Scrub your carrots but do not peel them. Trim the leaves off but leave the very tip of stubbly end. If they’re nice small carrots, you can leave them whole—otherwise cut in half lengthwise as necessary (I like to keep them long, it’s pretty). Trim the ends off your radishes and cut them into matchsticks.

Place carrots in a steamer basket. When it starts to boil, wait one minute and then add the radishes. Steam only until fork tender—err on the side of underdone as you want these a little firm and they will continue to cook a bit after you remove them from the heat.

Place carrots and radishes on a platter and spoon the horseradish sauce over the top. Serve hot or cool—it’s great both ways.

Springtime, the farmer’s markets have reopened, glory be to the PTB! Another winter past, another year springing anew, and nothing shakes off the last residual frosty shivers like a curry. In celebration, I got more produce from the farmer’s market than one girl could possibly stand a chance of eating on her own. But I’m going to do it. With a little help from my friends of course. And here was last night’s creation.

Spring Lentil Curry

• 1 1/2 c. dry lentils
• 1 to 2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 whole Arbol pepper, or similar dry medium-hot pepper
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 3 to 4 spring onions, white parts and greens chopped and separated
• 1/3 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• several handfuls fresh spinach, chopped (3 cups maybe? ish?)
• 1 can organic coconut milk
• 2 T. curry powder
• sea salt to taste

I use sprouted lentils, and if doing this, be sure to start them sprouting the day before. Regardless, cook your lentils, sprouted or otherwise, in chicken or vegetable broth. Set aside, reserving a little bit of the liquid.

Heat a broad, deep skillet over medium heat. Add butter, ghee, or coconut oil for sauteing, and then add ginger and bay leaves. Cook until aromatic, about a minute. Add carrot and the white parts of the chopped onion and sprinkle with a smattering of salt, stirring until the carrot is slightly tender.

Add lentils, coconut milk, the hot pepper, and curry powder. Mix well and adjust curry to taste, adding more salt if necessary. Allow to cook and thicken a bit, uncovered, about twenty minutes. Add spinach, cilantro, and the reserved green onion. Cook another five minutes and adjust salt and curry to your taste.

Serve over rice. Rub your belly with joy and gratitude for spring.

My dad loves spicy, funky food, so I wasn’t terribly surprised when he recently asked me to teach him to make kimchi—this traditional Korean dish of fermented cabbage doesn’t skimp on intense flavors.

Having taken Suzanna Stone’s fermentation class last fall, I’ve relished any and all opportunities to expand my repertoire of fermented foods and beverages, and teaching other people is a joy, especially my delightfully enthusiastic Popsicle—let’s just say I came by my fervent love of food honestly. Both my parents are proficient in the kitchen, and the belly-laughing French declarative “Honh honh honh!!” is frequently heard emanating from the kitchen as concoctions are sniffed and tasted.

So here’s what we used:

Kimchi

4 pounds napa cabbage
1 pound carrot
1 large bunch of scallions
1 large hunk of ginger, peeled and grated
2 heads garlic, cloves smashed and peeled
Dry red chilies—however many you dare to use (we used a couple dozen Arbol chilies *grin*)
3 T. Sea salt

1. First, prep your ingredients—use organic, and do not wash them. Peel away the outside leave of cabbage and chop into 1 to 2 inch chunks. Chop or grate carrot in food processor—do not grate by hand as this will be too fine a grate for the carrot. Remove outer part of scallions and trim off ends, then slice on diagonal into 1 inch pieces. Smash garlic cloves and remove skin. Peel and then grate ginger—I find this easiest to do using a food processor.
2. Next, begin layering your veggies into a large, sturdy stoneware bowl in thirds: spread a third of the cabbage in a layer, then a third each of the carrot, scallions, garlic, ginger, and peppers (I leave my peppers whole); then sprinkle 1 Tablespoon sea salt evenly over it all. Layer in the next to thirds in the same manner until all the veggies and salt are layered into the bowl.
3. Allow contents to sit for a bit, maybe ten minutes—the salt will start to pull water out of the vegetables, and this will become your brine.
4. Then take a pounding implement (you’ll be glad for the sturdy bowl at this point) and start to pound the mixture, and don’t be shy! The goal is to bruise the mixture, break down the cells walls, and draw out more and more liquid from the vegetables. Alternate mixing the contents and pounding, as my lovely paternal assistant demonstrates in the accompanying pictures.
5. Once you have some brine puddling in the bottom of the bowl, it’s probably time to start filling your fermentation jar (I find that this recipe—about five pounds of veggies—almost exactly fills a wide-mouth 2-quart Ball jar). Add some of the veggie mix to the jar, then use your fist to smoosh it down, drawing the brine up over the vegetable matter and flushing out any renegade air pockets (which could cause spoilage during fermentation). Continue adding vegetable matter and smooshing it down till you’ve almost filled the jar and/or you run out of veggies. You’ll be amazed at how much juice is in there.
6. Almost done. Wipe the inside exposed lip of the jar. Now we need to add something to the top of the jar to hold the cabbage mixture submerged in the brine. Some people use a stone, but Suzanna taught us to use a ziploc bag filled with brine**. Fit the baggie down on top of the kimchi, pushing it down to flush out any air bubbles. Seal up your jar and pat yourself on the back—good job!
7. Ferment at room temperature for 1 – 4 weeks. Burp the jar once or twice a day to let any vapors out. Every few days, remove the ziploc, rinse and dry it, wipe out the exposed inside lip of the jar, and replace the baggie. Take a nibble occasionally to see if your kimchi is ready.
8. When your kimchi tastes like it’s ready, refrigerate it. You’ll continue to store it with the baggie on top and wiping the inner lip with each use to prevent the molding that can come with air exposure, but if it does get a little mold at some point, just scoop out that part, wipe out the jar, and you should be fine. The kimchi will keep in the fridge indefinitely.

**On brine: First, the water for the brine must be chlorine-free. This can be accomplished by either letting the water boil and return to room temperature before using, or by letting the water sit out open overnight—either will allow the chlorine to evaporate. Mix at a ratio of 1 Tablespoon sea salt dissolved in 1 cup water. Second, the brine is used in this manner to preserve the batch: any vegetable matter that is exposed to air could potentially mold, hence the ensuring it is completely submerged in brine, and if the baggie breaks, you aren’t going to hurt your fermentation, you’ve only added a little more brine. No harm, no foul. We like that.

What are your fermentation experiments and experiences?