"You just go on your nerve. If someone’s chasing you down the street with a knife you just run, you don’t turn around and shout, “Give it up! I was a track star for Mineola Prep.” That’s for the writing poems part." -Frank O’Hara, Personism: A Manifesto // It’s for the cooking part, too.
The cherry tomatoes I picked up from Cherry Lane Farm needed to be the star of any dish I put before my family, and this was certainly a winner. The wild rice, which can stand up to any ingredient without becoming soggy, is delicately spiced with baharat and Aleppo pepper. The tomatoes are marinated before adding them to the rice. I imagine you can add any fresh ingredients here, from cucumbers to corn. Serve this warm or even cold, as a salad or side dish or hey, a main.
1pintcherry or grape tomatoesin season only, halved
drizzle of good quality olive oil
1/2tspnground cumin
salt and Aleppo pepperto taste
fresh herbs chopped, to taste
Instructions
for the rice
Heat olive oil in a small pot. Add in the baharat and Aleppo pepper, allowing them to infuse the oil for about a minute. Stir in wild rice, stock, and salt. Bring to a boil then, with lid on, simmer for 45 minutes, or until the stock has evaporated. Set aside and cool slightly.
for the tomatoes
In a small bowl, season the halved tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, cumin, and Aleppo pepper and allow it to marinate for at least 15 minutes before adding in the rice. Mix in your fresh herbs and serve.
It appears I’ve taken a blog-writing hiatus without ever having planned on it, but let’s chat. After being diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia half a year ago, a rare condition that has left me, to this day, not able to use the right side of my mouth without flinching in very strange, fiery pain, I fell into a depression that led me to holding a camera more often than using words and seeing friends. Believe me, I am still obsessed with food. The obsession is quiet, though. (And mostly on Instagram.)
But I am eating. Mostly softer foods, veggies, grains, and poultry. I am slowly cutting out red meat. I am even trying to cut out dairy (say what!?) but that’s a challenge. I’m not chowing down on a wedge of cheese anymore so I do consider that progress, though a friend of mine did tell me the parmesan in my fridge is no danger to me at all in the realm of lactose. And another friend suggested I make her ginger and ghee tea for a special, satisfying indulgence. (THANK YOU, FRIENDS. I fuggin love ghee). I use oat milk now for coffee. And a lot of this is just trying to figure out what my body cannot have anymore. I bloat my way to 4 months pregnant, and my immune system went nuts on me the last time I tried to exercise and change my diet (enter trigeminal neuralgia, sciatica, and a psoriasis flare-up all at once, a week after these sudden changes.) Managing all of this plus having a hard time at work has left me stressed the fuck out. Yes, I am cussin’. This is really just to say, expect some changes on the blog. I feel I ought to be talking more about mental and physical health, and how food is a major part of that conversation. I hope you will join me.
My social life has suffered a great deal during my quiet, and now those with an autoimmune disease are being warned not to have a social life because we are at risk of getting real sick, along with elderly, far worse than those with no preexisting conditions. Which I already knew, but wonderful. Excuse me while I take my frustration out in the kitchen. (I think everyone should practice some caution. Just sayin’)
I’ve cooked so much during this time away so instead of going crazy choosing which to share, I’ll just talk about what I made last.
Baby carrot salad with a Middle Eastern flare
-3 bunches of baby carrots, washed, halved if bigger than others, greens set aside
-6-8 red pearl onions, halved
-drizzle of olive oil, salt n pepper, cumin optional
Add ’em to a hot pan, only moving them around once or twice. You want them to soften slightly and caramelize. Then set aside in a bowl.
Add:
-2 cups wild rice variety with grains that were cooked in vegetable stock
-1/2 cup or more of fresh parsley, dill, and/or cilantro, chopped
-carrot tops, chopped, optional but do use them for something else if not here
-handful of toasted almonds
-feta, optional
Then add a dressing made of
-juice of 1 small lemon
-long drizzle of olive oil
-about a tsp of pomegranate molasses
-salt n pepper, to taste
Always to taste. Serve warm or cold.
If anyone else is struggling today, let’s have a chat, or just know that I’m right there with you. While I’ve suffered from severe lack of confidence since I got sick, I will say I’m just starting to welcome some food opportunities that have come my way. Baby steps. It may sound ridiculous to some that I’ve ignored food photography jobs or cooking class opportunities these last few months, but I have. I’ve literally disliked half the stuff I’ve put out into the world lately, but I think I’m ready to take better care. Be kind, y’all. Be safe. Eat well. All that jazz.
When I told Dan this is too simple to put on the blog, let’s just say he might’ve called me crazy. Yes, it’s simple. Ridiculously simple. But when he said “not everyone who roasts a whole head of garlic will think to turn it into a soup,” well, he makes a point.
Roast your garlic and a pound of carrots for 45 minutes to an hour, and you’ll have something so wonderfully flavorful you’ll want to do very little to it.
But maybe you’ll want to add shredded, crispy bits of brussels sprouts…which REALLY elevates this whole dang thing. I’m not even spreading lies. Just don’t buy an entire stalk of em along with other heavy things from a farm that doesn’t offer bags cause, that’s not so simple. (Totally worth it, though).
You will need:
-1 medium head of garlic
-pound of carrots, peeled or not
-1 cup red lentils
-6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
-1 tsp ground cumin
-red pepper, as much as you’d like
-salt, to taste
-olive oil, for pan and roasting
-pound of Brussels sprouts, halved and sliced
-more olive oil
Can you believe that’s it?
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Laying the garlic flat on aluminum foil, cut the tops off the head and drizzle olive oil over it. Seal it shut.
Lay your carrots on a sheet pan and toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper.
Put both the garlic and carrots in your oven. The carrots should take about 40-45 minutes to caramelize, and the garlic about an hour.
While that’s in the oven, drizzle olive oil into a preheated pan and add your shredded Brussels sprouts. Stir only occasionally, as you want most of them to be crispy.
When everything is out of the oven, carefully take the cloves out (you can wait about 15 minutes if you have the time) and add them to a blender along with the carrots and enough stock to make a nice puree.
In a pot, gently toast your ground cumin til well-scented. Add a drizzle of oil and your red pepper flakes. You want to infuse that oil with some heat. Then stir in the puree and the rest of the stock. Add the red lentils and simmer til they are cooked.
Pour into bowls and top them with the nutty goodness of Brussels sprouts. Let me know what you think!
There’s a farmstand by me that has been showing off tomatoes these last couple of months like they were just-dug-up rubies. It was startling to see such glorious red globes in February, and so many of them, too. Tory and I had just been flipping through Ottolenghi’s Simple, professing our love to the summer tomato on the page. We miss ’em bad and I know you do, too.
But let’s be real. It is simply not tomato season yet. These beauties tasted identical to the beefsteak tomatoes that are sittin’ bland at the grocery store today, and I know they aren’t the sort of farm that grows them indoors. I *just* recently learned about this kind of farm in NJ, and this is what their tomatoes look like on the farmstand today:
I am pretty disappointed in myself for not visiting the Union Square Greenmarket throughout all of 2018. I think I spent that entire year living a very sad lie. I could’ve had beautiful tomatoes in January! February! All year long. But this post isn’t about those tomatoes. It’s about what I’ve been doing all this time with store-bought ones.
The only way I’ve coped with the lack of summer tomatoes is to purchase a sweeter variety and roast them (usually the smaller varieties). This galette got me all teary eye’d. It was the closest thing to summer I’ve had to date.
Top it with your favorite cheese and greens. I used feta and radish microgreens. Even better: serve it with my Blood Orange Z’hug to turn up the green and the heat. (Seriously, do that!) Have it with yolky eggs in the morning. I know I did. Maybe don’t forget the olives.
Miss-You-Summer Galette
– 1 9″ pie dough (homemade or storebought)
– about 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
– drizzle of good quality olive oil
– sprig of thyme or oregano, leaves only, tender stems are okay
– salt and pepper, to taste
– favorite cheese
– blood orange z’hug (<-click for recipe)
– microgreens (optional)
– olives (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a small bowl, gently toss tomatoes in olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme. Center them cut-side up on your pie dough (which should be on a baking sheet) and fold in the edges. Brush edges with milk or eggwash, and if you want, season them with flaky salt and/or other spices. Bake for about 40 minutes, til some tomatoes are browned and the dough looks golden.
You’ll want to make this even when tomatoes ARE in season. 2 1/2 more months? Or, you know, head on over to your local indoor farm. Or Union Sq Greenmarket if you’re around.
