I spent almost three years of my life living in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  While living there my absolute favorite food was pupusas.  They’re not hard to love, considering they are pretty much like the corn tortilla version of pizza (which I am rather obsessed with).

It’s a simple idea, you take a ball of masa dough, make a hole in the center and stick in a lump of cheese, or meat, or veggies, or a mixture of those, pat it flat, fry it up with a decent amount of grease, and serve it with a variety of spicy cabbage slaws and krauts.

I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but the main type of kraut used on top of pupusas is called curtido, which is pretty much just a broad term for pickle.

I have played around with various non-fermented versions of curtido over the years but it wasn’t until I won a copy of Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey (available also in Canada) that it finally hit me what was missing from my version—mine wasn’t fermented!

The recipe is very simple, just cabbage, carrots, onion, garlic, and chile pepper flakes, and oregano and cumin.  You can take the curtido in different directions by tweaking the ratios, making it hotter or milder, more herbs or less, more of one vegetable or less, and so on.  I was running out of carrots the day I made mine so I think I’ll use more next time, partly because it will add more color to the final product.

The recipe is adapted from Fermented Vegetables, and if your library doesn’t have this book I highly recommend getting yourself a copy (or asking them to get it!).  I’m so happy to have won a copy because I love the book and have read through pretty much the whole thing!  Now I see before me a summer full of fermenting….

It will be a week or two before it’s fully fermented, but making it now will help connect you to the spirit of Cinco de Mayo, which is ¡perfecto!  Once it is ready make your favorite tacos, burritos, or even try making pupusas, and then be sure to put tons of curtido on top.

This post was originally written for Bailey’s Local Foods.

I’m very new to the world of fermentation, especially when it comes to foods.  I didn’t grow up eating sauerkraut and still find it a bit odd.  However, the first time I had kimchi I knew I’d have to learn how to make it (because I’m kind of cheap, but mostly because I love learning how to make new things!).  So I took two recipes and made my own version using as many local ingredients as I good.  The result is KWimchi, or KW-Chi, or a Kimchi for KW.

Trying to emphasize the ingredients we have available from local farms this kimchi is a bit more of what Sandor Katz would call a Kraut-Chi.  Regardless of what you call it, it is delicious enough to eat by itself (which I’ve been doing lately!).

Our recipe is based on these two:

The Kitchn’s How to Make Easy Kimchi at Home

Nourished Kitchen’s Hot, Salty & Sour: My Kimchi Recipe

This week’s meal plan is lacking Monday and Tuesday because we will be out of town for Madame’s work conference in Niagara!  The boys and I plan to hit up a local nut farm and go searching for strawberries too since rumor has it they are ripe there…. Oh yeah, and then we’re going to Madame’s parent’s house for Father’s Day weekend, so there’s a gap on both ends of this meal plan, lucky me—a vacation (and I love helping cook when we go home to our parent’s house, but I don’t have to make the plan!!).

Since this week is lacking on menu ideas, if you feel like you need more ideas just check out last week’s menu which was so good, every day’s meal was wonderful and almost all were new to us.   Shaved Asparagus Pasta was pretty much the easiest meal I’ve ever cooked, I recommend it as an easy seasonal meal!  The meal originally comes from Martha Stewart, but The Red Spoon has a much more detailed version of it that is quite helpful.

June 10-16

These days the menu features lots of green items.  It’s wonderful.  It also would seem that there is some debate on the internet (and maybe beyond) as to whether it’s healthier to eat leafy greens raw or cooked.  Since my 3-minute internet research session was inconclusive I’ll stick to just not worrying about it, and will cook them sometimes and sometimes not.  Basically I will let the recipe and my stomach decide what sounds best (which reminds me of this interview I started to read last night).  For further reading on cooking leafy greens try reading this article about Kale and its recent popularity.

Looking back at least week, one great meal was Cream of Asparagus Soup with Fresh Cheesy Garlic Bagels!  We ate it last night and like I just said, it was a great meal, especially the fresh bagels, which were topped with cranberry goat cheese (since we rarely buy cream cheese).  Let me just say, once you start putting goat cheese on bagels it’s unlikely you’ll ever go back to cream cheese…

Spring is beginning to arrive at the market and that is good.  It also is beginning to arrive in my backyard where I’ve been able to harvest small amounts of leaves from various young plants—dandelions, mustard, spinach, kale, and lettuce.  So this is good.  However, asparagus hasn’t come yet (Friday we will get some from Bailey’s!) so it still kind of feels like Spring isn’t fully here yet.  At the Kitchener Market we were able to pick up some local greenhouse arugula and chard, but neither of those really makes me feel like spring the way the asparagus will.

Sunday afternoon we went for a hike at Rattlesnake Point which is on the Escarpment that looks out over Lake Ontario.  It was beautiful!  We joined two of Madame’s brothers and their spouses, had a lovely picnic, played some Frisbee and kicked around a soccerball, hiked, enjoyed the warmth of sun, and had a great time!  When we got home instead of doing our Cinco de Mayo feast we had guacamole (a mini, non-local celebration!) and a frozen Beet, Potato, & Mushroom Casserole.  Thus we will celebrate Siete de Mayo.  I checked that phrase on google and the only interesting thing I found was a blog from a US surgeon in Afghanistan from two years ago.  His reason cited was the same as mine, well not the same really in any way other than the fact that when you can’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo you celebrate when you are able!  So, come on over for some great Mexican food on Tuesday night if you’re nearby!

The Eggplant Parmesan will be made with local greenhouse eggplants.  Kind of hilarious, and strange… but I was excited to eat something different and pretend that it’s summer.  Tonight’s Penne with Cabbage is something I’ve made before, but a long time ago.  It’s simple and tasty.   Also, I’m branching out this week, or returning to my roots–the Moosewood Cookbook is featured this week in two recipes, Eggplant Parmesan and Spanokapita.  Should be great!

Winter’s Fading Salad (Beet, Cabbage, Lentil, and Bacon Salad)

Adapted from Food & Wine

• 1 cup dried lentils*
• 3 medium beets
• ½ red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 4-6 slices thick bacon
• ½ cup fresh parsley or 1 Tbs. dried parsley
• ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
• ¼ cup crumbled extra sharp cheddar
• ½ cup oil
• 3 Tbs. lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbs. honey
• Salt and pepper

Steam the beets (or boil them) until soft, about 30-45 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook the lentils—cover them with 2 inches water, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until soft.  Drain and allow them to cool.  While the beets and lentils are cooking chop the cabbage finely, in thin pieces about 2 inches long.  If you have a double steamer you can steam the cabbage above the beets, just making sure to steam the cabbage for about 10 minutes.  Finally, while all the above items are cooking go ahead and cook the bacon until crispy.  Remove it to a paper towel to dry and then slice it crosswise into thin strips.

Remove the beets to a bowl of cold water and allow them to cool for 5 minutes.  When they are cool enough to be handled rub the skin off with your hands or peel them with a peeler.  If they are sufficiently cooked the skin should come right off.  Then slice them in thin wedges.

To make the dressing just mix the oil (it can be olive or canola), lemon juice or vinegar, and honey and add salt and pepper to your liking.  If you want extra bacon flavor add some of the bacon grease that’s leftover.

In a large bowl toss the lentils, beets, and parsley with the dressing.  Then add in the cabbage and continue to toss together to evenly coat the various parts.  Top the salad with the bacon and crumbled cheeses (you can use just blue or cheddar or both!).  (To crumble cheese hold the cheese in one hand over the salad and twist a fork into the cheese allowing the pieces to fall into the salad).  Drizzle any remaining dressing over top and serve.

FYI – In the future I’d like to try to veganize (term from The Sweet Life) this salad, starting by replacing the bacon with Parsnip Bacon!

Whole Wheat Popovers (Or Yorkshire Pudding?**)

Adapted from 100 Days of Real Food and my grandma’s recipe.  Makes about 1 dozen.

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted (plus more to grease the muffin pan)
• ⅔ cup whole wheat flour
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

My grandma’s handwritten recipe warns “don’t preheat the oven.”  That’s not always an option when I’m cooking but I try to follow her advice.  Regardless, these will cook at 425 degrees, it’s really up to you if you preheat or not, just know that if you don’t preheat they will take longer to cook (add 5-10 minutes, depending on your oven).

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and butter.  Then whisk in the flours and salt (my grandma also says “disregard lumps”).  Generously grease a muffin pan (I used some of the leftover bacon grease!).  If you have time you can make the batter ahead and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready.  Pour the batter into the muffin cups no higher than three-quarters full.   Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and crispy on top.  Fill any empty muffin cups with water.  Serve immediately, aka, don’t bake these until everything else looks like it will be ready too!

If you fill the muffin cups 1/2 full they will turn out like this, still delicious, but less “popped-over”

*100 Mile Disclaimer – The lentils were not locally grown but they seem to be locally processed or packaged.  But I recently found a local source for lentils so in the future they will for sure be!  Lemon juice will never be local, not here, at least not any time soon I hope!  Alas, the parsley was not local either, but potentially I should be able to find a greenhouse source.

**According to the Whirled Why’d Web, Yorkshire pudding is slightly different from popovers because it uses the drippings from meat for its grease.  It is also sometimes cooked as a large pancake in the same pan the meat was roasted in!  Sounds like a good idea for the future….

Spring?  Maybe it has arrived.  We feel it a little bit more each day.  In terms of planning our menu for the week  Cinco de Mayo should be an obvious meal choice (if it’s not obvious, it’s going to Mexican!).  However, I will still do my best to utilize local ingredients, which actually should be pretty easy, other than avocados, lime, and tequila….    Other than that this week is a little bit difficult to plan for.  One problem is that some of our favorite winter storage vegetables (namely the leeks) have been disappearing from the market the last few weeks.  That would be okay if it were accompanied by the arrival of Spring vegetables… but it hasn’t been!  We’ve been waiting for an abundance of Spring greens but since they haven’t really arrived we have been somewhat unsure what to plan!  So, this week’s plans for now are going to include things that we can plan on—cabbage and root vegetables like potatoes and beets!  Oh, one more thing, the Beet and Red Cabbage Salad from last week’s menu turned out great!

Desserts – I don’t plan desserts, they are just whatever sweet treat we have made recently, but these Chocolate Diablo Cookies from Chatelaine Magazine are amazing!

Also, an apology:  last week we didn’t get to two of our meals… so we are eating them this week (which means that two days in this menu are identical to last week’s)!  On Wednesday we didn’t make the planned meal because I didn’t feel like cooking… that was the day I ended up baking with My Assistant all day (yes, I realize this was ironic).  Thursday I had a disaster (which I will write about in a day or two)….    And I’d love to hear from you if you’re trying any of these dishes, or what local foods you’ve been enjoying lately!   Share a link to a recipe that’s local for you below!  Try to think of what you could do for 100 Mile Monday this week….

Ok, the plan for the week:

So, the meals for this week are as follows:

Also shared at: Susie QTpies Cafe and  and Erin Branscom’s Menu Monday

The second part of the the meal, Rösti, I have cooked once before and it was pretty simple, although a bit stressful to do the flip.  Since there is little holding together the entire “pancake” it is important to be cautious when flipping it.  One possibility would be to make several smaller pancakes but then would they really still be Rösti?

Finally I added a salad to the meal because I forgot to make it on Monday!  Well, I didn’t forget entirely, I realized right before we were about to eat that I had forgot so I just figured I’d tack it on to today’s meal.  (Monday got a bit disorganized because my Young Assistant had his first swim lesson ever at 6:30 and we debated about whether or not to eat before or after and things got forgotten in all the newness of the situation).

Memories of Winter Cabbage & Apple

Ingredients:

• 2 Tb. oil
• 1 Tb. fennel seeds
• 1 Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, sliced into thin wedges
• 1 apple, sliced in thin wedges
• ½ large cabbage or 1 whole small cabbage, outer leaves and core removed, sliced into thin pieces (red cabbage will be prettier but is not essential)
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar (you can use more if you want it more tangy)
• Salt and pepper (you decide the quantities!)

Heat the oil in a large pan or pot over medium-high heat and add the fennel seeds and sausage.  When the sausage has begun browning remove it and cut it into small thin pieces.  Return the sausage to the pot and add the onion.  Let onion soften and then add the rest of the ingredients, stirring to mix all the ingredients together.  Lower the heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes.  Now make your Rösti!

(I felt disappointed with the appearance of the cabbage dish, but not with it’s taste–it was really tasty!  I just think that next time I’ll follow Jamie Oliver’s advice and only use a red cabbage, as opposed to my mixture of a savoy and red).

Rösti

The best recipe I’ve found for Rösti is from Fine Cooking.  It’s a very thorough explanation of how to make it.  My super-short version of the recipe is:

1)   Get several potatoes and grate them (I used a food processor).

2)   Heat several tablespoons of butter in a pan and fry the potatoes, stirring a few times for a the first few minutes.

3)   Press the potatoes into a large pancake with a spatula and cook for 10-15 minutes.  Then flip it!  Cook the Rösti another 5-10 minutes and it’s ready to go.  (I topped mine with shredded cheddar and broiled it until the cheese was starting to bubble).

4)   Top with sour cream, or ketchup (that’s why our boys like), or salsa, or anything else that sounds good!

Easy Daal – Recipe

Cabbage Paneer – Recipe

Radish Flat Bread – Mooli Parathas

(Adapted and naan-ified from ViniCooksVeg – thanks for a great recipe!)

Ingredients:

• 1 c. radish (grated) (I had one really big radish)
• 1 tsp. dried mint
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3-4 spoons pickled hot peppers
• 1 Tb. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 Tb. honey
• 1 Tb. lemon juice
• salt
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 3 Tb. yogurt
• 1 ½  Tb. oil
• 2 c. whole wheat flour
• ½ tsp. yeast (or 1/4 cup of sourdough starter)
• ½ c. water (you may need more, it depends on the moisture from your vegetables)

Procedure

Grate the radish(es).  Make a paste of green chilies and garlic by blending in the food processor.

In a pan , heat oil.  Add cumin seeds, and garlic chili paste and sauté for a minute.  Add grated radish, mint, coriander powder, paprika and salt.  Mix well.  Close the lid and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.  Remove the pan from heat and stir in lemon juice and honey.  Allow this mixture to cool down.

In a bowl mix whole wheat flour,  a  little salt (about 1/2 tsp), yeast or sourdough, and the radish mixture.  Add yogurt and water to the mix.  Stir and then knead for 2 minutes.  The dough should stick to your hands a bit.  Let it sit for 5 minutes and then knead for 1 more minute.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for several hours.   This allows the whole wheat to have time to soften and for more of the flavor to develop.

Divide the dough in 8-9 equal parts and allow to sit for 20 minutes.  Heat a cast iron pan (or good pan).

Using extra flour, roll out each piece of dough until about ¼ inch thick.  Cook with a small amount of oil and put the lid over the pan to keep the dough moist.   When the dough begins to dry on top flip it and cook another minute or two.  Keep the flatbreads warm by covering with a kitchen towel until you’re ready to eat.

Cucumbers and Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• ½ c. yogurt
• 1 tsp. dried mint
• 1 Tb. oil
• Salt and pepper

Slice up a cucumber.  Toss with the yogurt, mint, oil, salt and pepper.  Serve!