By polina, on January 23rd, 2013% 
Short days, cold rains, the flu season… This is when we need more vitamins in our diet, to fight off this cold, and more colors on our plates, to add cheer to the long nights in front of the fire. Luckily, here in California, the winter farmers market supplies both.
Winter vegetables come in a palette of soft whites, muted purples, deep greens, and warm yellows; they go well with the gold of roasted chicken and duck, deep browns of braised meats, and the neutral tones of earthy grains. They prefer slow, thoughtful cooking techniques; they are complimented with sturdy winter herbs – thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley. Winter vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients that help us survive the cold and boost our energy when we need it most.
Beets come in a rainbow of colors: red, pink, golden, white. Slice very young, tender raw beets for salads, both roots and tops. Roast larger beets for salads, soups, or to serve as a side dish: trim the greens, leaving 1 inch attached (save the greens to add to soups or braised greens), wash the beets, place them in an oven-proof dish, add 2-3 Tbsp water, cover with aluminum foil, roast at 400 degrees until tender (pierce with a wooden pick through the foil to check), 30-60 minutes, depending on the size; let cool, peel. The beets are complimented with balsamic vinegar, roasted garlic, truffle oil, thyme.
Broccoli adds emerald green color and a wealth of minerals to the plate. Separate the florets, peel and slice the stems, steam in a steamer or in a microwave until tender, refresh in ice water to stop cooking and to preserve the color. My favorite way to serve the broccoli is as a cold salad with dried cranberries and sliced almonds, with a dressing of almond butter, Tamari soy sauce, and olive oil.
Brussels sprouts like to steam, sauté, or roast. They are complimented by garlic, lemon (grate the rind over them, squeeze the juice), and mild olive oil.
Cabbage comes in green and red, and in plain and crinkled Savoy varieties. The large outer leaves, blanched, make wrappers for cabbage rolls, with rice, vegetables, meats, or anything. The tender center leaves go into soups and sautés. Green cabbages have an affinity with apples, pears, caraway seed, white wine, and onions. All cabbages go beautifully with bacon and smoked meats.
Carrot adds sunny color, sweetness and vitamins to everything it touches. There are white, gold, and purple varieties too. Love it raw!
Cauliflower is not just a white flower. It’s also gold, green, and purple flower! All colors do well steamed until almost tender, then sautéed, or prepared ou gratin. Cream of cauliflower soup is a life-saver for people who can’t tolerate milk products: the pureed cauliflower supplies the creamy texture, no cream needed.
Celery: the crunchy stalks are a perfect snack, great for dipping; the classic combination of chopped onions, celery, and carrot, sautéed in a mixture of olive oil and butter, can enhance any soup or transform a grain dish. Celery also makes a great soup on it’s own. Did I mention Bloody Mary?
Chard is a close relative of beets, and the leaves come in the same palette of jewel colors, and can be used the same ways as the beet tops. Steam, sauté, braise.
Fennel, thinly sliced, adds subtle anise flavor to salads, soups and stews. It’s also great prepared au gratin.
Garlic is love, and an indispensable ingredient in almost every savory, and some sweet dishes. Every time I heat up an oven to roast anything, I also toss in a head of garlic, wrapped in aluminum foil. Serve roasted garlic with a cheese and fruit plate, add it to mashed potatoes, spread it on top of steaks, mix it into sauces for roasted meats and vegetables. Large garlic cloves, sliced thin and fried in olive oil, make garlic chips, a nice garnish to meat dishes.
Grapefruit – juice it! This time of the year, we need tons of vitamin C, and the grapefruit delivers it, together with the tangy and pleasantly bitter flavor, and a wonderful aroma. Like most citrus fruits, it’s a natural antidepressant.
Kale is a leafy cabbage, and it works well in the same types of preparations. I love to use kale leaves to wrap rice, vegetables, and meats, to make kale rolls. I also like it braised with onion, bacon, and white wine. Black Tuscan kale, aka Dino kale, aka “the favorite”, is the darkest of them all, and has the deepest flavor and the highest vitamin content. It is friends with white beans, tomatoes, onions and garlic.
Leek, a mild, subtle green onion, works well in delicate soups. Also, try browning it in butter, than braising it with white wine and shallots, low and slow, until it’s melting tender. Addictive. The white part is to eat; I use the green part to flavor stocks.
Lemon, my second main staple after garlic, is indispensable with fish and shellfish; it takes any green vegetable dish to the next level (think garlic and lemon green beans, or Meyer lemon roasted Brussels sprouts), and it’s one of the best flavorings for a roasted chicken.
Mandarin: eat it out of hand, or add it to a green salad.
Onion, you already know… I like to marinate thin slices of red onion in 1 part sherry vinegar, 3 parts boiling water, with salt, sugar, and spices (whatever I’m in a mood for; say, allspice, cloves and cinnamon), to top burgers
Parsley root adds deeper, earthier flavor than parsley leaves to soups and stocks. My grandma always used the whole parsley plant, tops and roots, to make a soup. I like it her way. The root also roasts well, and is a nice, flavorful addition to roasted root vegetables.
Parsnip used to be a European staple food, before the potatoes arrived. It still mashes well, and a combination of mashed parsnips and potatoes is even better.
Potato. They say that the classic chefs toque has 101 pleats that represent 101 potato dishes that the chef knows how to make. I’m not there yet: I routinely make about 40 potato dishes. But my toque only has 17 pleats! I need a new toque. My latest favorite potato dish is smashed potatoes with garlic and herbs: boil gold, red, and purple potatoes until tender; let cool; mince garlic, thyme, rosemary, and parsley with some sea salt; spread the herb mixture on the cutting board; with the palm of your hand, smash the potatoes into the herb mixture; heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a large pan over medium heat; transfer smashed potatoes to the pan, cook until fragrant and golden, turning once.
Radish: winter radishes have thick skins and strong flavors. I like to peel them and cook them. Black Spanish and Watermelon radishes are great roasted.
Rutabaga: the big gentle “Swede” is sweet, and is at it’s best roasted, or as a puree.
Turnip is sweet and crunchy. Peel it and roast it, boil it, or sauté it, then glaze it with honey and apple juice, balsamic vinegar, or soy sauce.
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Location:San Carlos, CA
By polina, on December 9th, 2012% It’s always hard to come back from a vacation, especially one so perfect and food-centered as this one. Here are a few pictures from our South Pacific island feast.
Our destination was Tonga, an island kingdom located between Fiji, Samoa, and Cooks Islands, a short three-hour flight from New Zealand. From Auckland we took an Air New Zealand flight to the Tonga capital Nuku’alofa, then a charter flight in an antique 1944 DC3 airplane to the Vava’u island group, where we chartered a sailing catamaran to sail between the islands.
Picture a perfect tropical island, with a coral reef, a sandy beach, and coconut palms swaying in the warm breeze, surrounded by deep blue waters, full of fish, dolphins, and whales. Now picture sixty of these islands, a few of them with little native villages or fishing resorts, most of them uninhibited, within one-hour sail from each other. This is Vava’u island group.
Tongans love their food, and are very proud of it. The local diet is based on tropical vegetables (taro, sweet potato) and fruits (coconut, pineapple, bananas), with a lot of fresh fish and shellfish, and some pork, with some potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, and lettuce thrown in. At the farmers market in the main town Neiafu you get a large basket of coconuts for $7 paangas ($1 paanga roughly equals 60 US cents), and a bunch of bananas or a pile of pineapples for $3 paangas.
Farmers market in Neiafu:
This is what we were using for snacks while sailing. Our regular afternoon after diving and snorkeling snack consisted of New Zealand cheese, salami, and crackers with bananas and pineapple slices, and a drink of an unripe coconut with a shot of rum poured in.
For breakfasts, I made simple omelets with bacon and cheese for those who were hungry in the morning; those who were not subsided on instant porridge, bananas, Turkish coffee and green tea.
Our divers and fishing lines proved to be useless in the South seas: the fish shied away from the divers, and it never got the lure. I had to go fishing at the farmers market. Fortunately, the local fishermen they sell them (cheap) at the farmers market: spiny lobsters, barracuda, Pacific snapper, grouper, parrot fish, jacks, etc., come in fresh every morning. We grilled the snapper and trevally on board on our gas grill, and I pan-fried parrot fish fillets with fresh coconut flakes – all delicious, accompanied with a rice and vegetable pilaf, green salad, or boiled potatoes.
Parrot fish:
Cutting up a trevally:
Spiny lobster:
The highlight of the island cuisine is ota ika – raw fish – bite-size pieces of firm white fish, marinated with lemon juice, coconut cream, and vegetables, served with potato fries. This is addictive! Their fish soup is also coconut-based and delicious.
Ota ika:
Fish coconut soup:
Back to New Zealand, it was a completely different food experience. The country’s main feature is rolling green hills, where they raise sheep, cows, and deer. New Zealand lamb feeds the world, but it tastes the best in New Zealand in spring. Beef and venison are fresh and tender. Even in the most touristy places you get a tender cut of meat, cooked to perfection and plated beautifully.
Rack of lamb:
Lamb chops:
Venison cooked on a hot stone:
Steaks:
Fish and seafood:
In Auckland, fish and seafood are great, and they do mind the presentation.
Street sushi is a Southrn Hermispere exotic, and, surprisingly, they are edible, and tasty.
Breakfasts and snacks:
Our captain’s birthday falls on December, 1st. The International Date Line is set up all crooked and twisted in the South Pacific, to make sure that all the island nations are on the same time and date. So, after celebrating our captain’s first ever summer birthday in Auckland by bar-hopping, we got on the plane to San Francisco on December, 2nd, and we flew into December, 1st and back into December 2nd, three more times. The turbulences didn’t allow for a proper celebration on the plane, but we held tight to our wine glasses, and we toasted every one of our captains birthdays in and out!
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Location:Kingdom of Tonga; New Zealand
By polina, on July 13th, 2012% What’s good at the market right now
- Summer squashes. I know, we’ll all get tired of them by the end of July, and will try to unload the surplus on the neighbors and friends. But right now they are exciting, new, fresh, tasty, and come in many varieties. Slice them thin for a salad, or grill them, sauté them, stuff them, make pancakes and tarts with them.
- Tomatoes. The larger heirloom varieties are not really ready yet, and the cherries, Early Girls, and beefsteak tomatoes rule the market. Pasta with fresh tomatoes or a tomato sauce, tomato and bread salad, roasted pepper and tomato soup. Or just eat out of hand with a little sea salt. Smaller Early Girls and plum tomatoes can be selected to match the size of Japanese eggplant and zucchini to make a dramatic stacked ratatouille.
- Eggplant: king of the grill. Slice thin lengthwise, grill on lightly oiled grill (don’t oil the eggplant slices, they will absorb all the oil in a moment, and the surface will be dry again). Marinate grilled eggplant with balsamic vinegar, garlic, and olive oil; or wrap herbed goat cheese in grilled eggplant slices; or blend with tahini paste, olive oil, and roasted garlic for baba ganoush, a classic Mediterranean spread.
- Corn. White, yellow, bi-color, and all other colors. Grill.
- Stone fruits: peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, pluots. Eat straight, blend in shakes and gelato, bake, make preserves, create sweet and spicy sauces for chicken and pork, serve as part of a cheese board… Possibilities are endless.
- Figs. Love. Just eat them. Eat them from a tree with your hands; wash them and eat them with a fork; split them and stuff with goat cheese, honey, and black pepper; wrap them in prosciutto; wrap them in bacon and grill; add them to a lamb roast; slice them into a fruit salad. Just eat them, they will be gone too soon.
- Melons and watermelons. They are just beginning to appear, and when sliced and chilled, they compliment the July weather like nothing else. I also love slices of green-fleshed melons with prosciutto.
- California king salmon. We are in the middle of the salmon season, the prices are as “reasonable” as they will get, and the fish that was caught today is usually available – this is what’s important when buying fish. This fish has great flavor and texture, and requires very little adornment. A suggest grilling, pan-frying, or poaching it, then serving it with basil oil, homemade aioli, gremolata, chimichurri, or yogurt-dill sauce.
- California white sea bass is a better choice environmentally than Chilean sea bass, and almost as good. Grill.
- Santa Barbara spot prawns. If you can afford them, grill them life, and eat with a squeeze of lemon.
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Location:San Francisco Bay Area
By polina, on April 28th, 2012% I didn’t say this! By all means, please do compost! It’s economical, fun, good for your garden and for the rest of the planet. However, I’ve noticed that people get carried away, and put on the compost pile things that should go in the pot and on the table. Please, do not compost these, give them a try:
Beet greens. They are sweet, tender, and full of vitamins. Why would you toss beet greens, and then go and buy Swiss chard? It’s actually the same plant, except the beets were bred to have larger roots, and the chard was bred for the leaves. Clean the beet greens carefully, then use in braised greens dishes, add to borscht, or sauté in olive oil and toss with pasta.
Radish and turnip tops. These greens add wonderful, slightly spicy flavor and tons of vitamins to any dish where you would use other leafy greens. Or roast radishes or small turnips with the greens attached, for added textural interest.
Outer green cabbage leaves, cauliflower, broccoli, and kohlrabi leaves. These can be tougher than the cabbage heads, so they take longer to cook. On the other hand, they have higher concentration of vitamins and minerals than white cabbage heads. When braising cabbage, start with shredded outer green leaves, give them 15 minutes head start, then add shredded white or red cabbage.
Or, remove the thick center veins from the leaves, blanch them in in boiling water or steam in a microwave for about 2 minutes, refresh under cold water, stuff with your choice of seasoned cooked grains, meats, and vegetables, roll into tight parcels, place in a baking dish with chicken or vegetable broth, tomato sauce, sour cream, or a combination; bake uncovered at 375 degrees until tender and beginning to turn golden. Serve with the pan sauce.
Broccoli stems. Peel them, cut a slice and try it raw – you’ll be surprised. It’s the best part of the broccoli! If anything is left after you tried them raw, slice them and steam in a steamer or in the microwave, together with the florets, 4-5 minutes. Refresh with cold water, toss with your favorite salad dressing. My current favorite is 1 Tbsp almond butter, 1 tsp tamari soy sauce, 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar, enough water to thin, salt and pepper. Top with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, toasted hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, or whatever you like.
Carrot tops. They taste like a carrot with a hint of parsley. They can be tough, so cut them finely and add to braised greens, soups, or pasta sauces in the beginning. Give them time to soften, and they will give your dish additional tasty goodness.
When making chicken or vegetable stock, carrot and onion trimmings, parsley stems and roots, green parts of leeks, kale stems, cabbage cores, leafy celery tops, small cloves from the center of a garlic head, lemons halves squeezed for juice, mushroom stems, bottom parts of asparagus – all add flavor, color and nutrition to the stock. Make sure that the vegetables are well cleaned. Simmer them in the stock for about 30 minutes to extract the flavor. If you are making a vegetable stock, after straining it, you can still compost the vegetables.
I’ve listed vegetable parts that I’ve been using in my cooking and enjoying for a long time. There may be other neglected edible plants or plant parts out there. Please do your research before attempting to cook and eat anything new. Our goal is to get taste and nutrition, not to get sick.
Do not try to cook with the greens from tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and other members of the nightshades family – they can be poisonous.
Braised mixed greens
This is a “loose” recipe, with lots of possible variations. I have made it with or without meat; with wine, different types of vinegar, and apple cider; using almost every leafy vegetable on the market. Taste as you cook. Note that chickories will add some bitterness, and chards and beets will add sweetness; adjust the seasoning.
Wash your greens well. Don’t waste time on drying then: any water clinging to the leaves will help them cook.
Serves 4
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 ounces bacon or pancetta, thinly sliced (optional)
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch black kale, stems removed, torn into bite-size pieces
1 bunch red kale, stems removed, torn into bite-size pieces
Tops from 1 bunch of turnips, with stems, chopped
Tops from 1 bunch of carrots, thick part of stems removed, chopped
1 cup not too fruity white wine (Italian pino grigio works well)
Salt, pepper
In a large, deep sauté pan heat oil over medium heat. Add bacon or pancetta, if using, brown, stirring often. Add onion, cook, stirring, until soft and beginning to turn color. Add garlic, cook another minute to soften it. Start adding greens in batches. The greens will shrink, giving you room to add more greens. Stir to help the greens to shrink evenly. Add wine. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low to maintain slow simmer. Simmer until the greens are tender, 30-45 minutes. Remove the lid. Taste, season with salt and pepper. If there is a lot of liquid remaining on the bottom, cook uncovered until almost all the liquid evaporates. Serve as a side to pork, sausage, or chicken, or over white beans or pasta.
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Location:San Rafael, CA
By polina, on February 2nd, 2012% 
I don’t have a sweet tooth. At all. Indifferent to chocolate. Order cheese and wine for dessert. Eat fruit preserves one or two times a year (with cheese). I love fruits, but prefer them not too sweet. When I bake, people who don’t like their desserts too sweet spoon sugar on my tarts. Those who like sweets, don’t eat them at all.
Honey is different. The flavor of a good honey is so complex that you are not annoyed by the sweetness, you just enjoy the whole experience. It’s as balanced as a well crafted wine.
I actually come from a honey producers family: my dad keeps bees at his country house near Moscow. He usually gets a few liters of honey to give to the family and friends, and some extra to sell. The varieties that he gets are clover, linden, buckwheat, and mixed summer flowers, depending on the season.
Now, where are my dad and his bees, and where am I? No chance to get our family honey, so I get mine from the farmers market.
Our farmers market honey people, Marchall’s Farm, move their bees following the flowers, in order to produce single-origin honeys.
Here is what I got in their signature red mesh bag:
- Orange blossom honey – very floral, not too sweet
- California sage honey – delicate, very light herbal taste, not sweet at all
- Wild blackberry – SWEET, complex, fruity
- Star thistle honey – very complex, winey, slightly bitter (pleasant) aftertaste
I like my honey served at teatime on a slice of a very strong hard cheese. traveling in Bashkiria as a student, I fell in love with their dense white buckwheat honey, and the way they spread it generously over a thick slice of a Swiss-style local cheese.
Marchall’s farms suggest paring their honey with a blue cheese, but I don’t want to deal with the mess. So here were are, pairing a French Comte with California sage honey and white tea. You can try this with an off-dry German Riesling too.
Other suggestions for cooking with honey:
- Mix 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp Olive oil, 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce dash of Tabasco, 1 tsp ground black pepper. Use to marinate beef or chicken for the grill.
- Use a mixture of 2 Tbsp honey, 1 tsp dry mustard, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper as a rub for grilled chicken breasts
- For a tasty slaw, dress 2 cups shredded cabbage and 1/2 cup shredded carrot with 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper; mix well.
- Parboil young carrots, turnips, rutabagas until almost tender. Sauté in butter, glaze with honey and balsamic vinegar
- Use instead of sugar to sweeten Turkish coffee
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Location:San Rafael, CA
By polina, on November 8th, 2011% 
Now is the magical time when all three of my favorite fruits come together at the market at the same time:
Figs are going out, the few still available are overripe, beginning to dry out, but still delicious. At this point, don’t use them for cooking – enjoy them fresh while they last, or, if you are lucky to have a large tree, dry some for the winter.
Grapes are at the peak now. Super-sweet, juicy and wonderful as an accompaniment to wines and cheeses, in salads, or just eat them straight.
Persimmons are just coming in. My favorite Fuyu variety, that is not tannic and can be eaten still firm and crunchy, is good and sweet already. It’s great sliced as a part of cheese and fruits board (think soft, sharp cheeses), sliced into salads, chopped into salsas, baked in a pie, or just eaten out of hand.
I don’t even mention apples as my favorite fruit, they are too common, and everyone’s favorites. But I eat a lot of apples now, when most varieties are at the peak: bake pies and tarts with Granny Smiths, Pippins, Honeycrisps, and tiny tart crab apples; slice Fujis, Honeycrisps, Rome Beauties, Empire, and McIntosh to serve with wine and cheese (lots of pairing options here), sauté Pippins and Granny Smiths to serve with savory meat dishes – poultry and pork work very well with apples; store some, wrapped in paper, in a box in a cool place, for the winter.
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Location:San Rafael, CA
By polina, on October 18th, 2011% 
Good bye, summer!
They are probably the last ones of the season, and I’ll miss them terribly. But at this weeks farmers market an almost six-pound bag of slightly overripe organic heirloom tomatoes was $5, and they were of absolutely beautiful, sunny orange and red varieties. I had to take them home, and now everything I eat has tomato sauce on it. I also put away a couple of bags of tomato confit in the freezer for later.
Tomato confit
Makes a lot
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
10 cloves garlic, peeled
5 sprigs oregano
5 sprigs thyme
5 pounds ripe (or slightly overripe, undamaged) tomatoes, or as many as you can fit in your roasting pan, cored
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil, spread onion, garlic, and herbs in the pan. Place tomatoes on top of onion mixture, stem side down, fitting them close together. Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bake about one hour, or until tomatoes char on top and blister. Let cool a little. Remove oregano and thyme. Puree vegetables in blender, working in batches, adding liquid from the bottom of the pan as needed. Store in a refrigerator, or freeze in locking bags or in ice cube trays. Use on pastas, eggs, beans, thin with stock to make tomato soup, braise fish fillets in it, or make my simple version of a vegetable terrine, while eggplants and bell peppers are still in season, and the weather is grill-friendly.
Terrine of grilled eggplant and fire-roasted peppers with tomato confit
Makes 1 4-cup container
2 bell peppers
3 small Italian eggplants
Olive oil for grilling
Salt, pepper
2 cups tomato confit
2 bags unflavored gelatin
Preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Place peppers on the hottest part of the grill, char on all sides, turning occasionally, until almost all the skin blackens. Place in a covered container and leave until cool enough to handle.
Slice eggplants lengthwise 1/4 inch thick. Brush with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper. Remember that the vegetables will be served cold, so stronger seasoning will help them shine. Grill, turning once or twice, until soft and nice grill marks are created.
When peppers are cool enough to handle, remove the skins – they should slide off easily – and cores and seeds. Work over a bowl to catch the juices. Slice peppers lengthwise.
Line 4-cup Pyrex container, loaf pan, or terrine with plastic wrap. Put a layer of eggplant slices on the bottom, with the best grill marks facing down – this will be the top of the finished terrine. Top with a layer of peppers. Repeat, finishing with a layer of eggplant, with the best grill marks facing up, in case you decide to serve the terrine in the mold.
Divide tomato confit into two roughly equal portions. Bring one to almost boil, add any pepper juices to it. Sprinkle gelatin on cool confit, let sit two minutes. Add hot confit, mix well. Pour tomato-gelatin mixture over the vegetables in the mold. Pierce in a few places with a bamboo skewer, to let the tomato flow under and around the vegetables. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Turn the terrine over to a cold plate, remove the mold and plastic, slice to show the colorful layers, and serve with more tomato confit, if desired.
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Location:San Rafael, CA
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