Grey Kabocha Squash Soup with Kaffir Lime and Ginger

Winter squashes are the perfect base for a winter soup--but they can tend to taste alike. I, at least, find it challenging to make them distinctive no matter what additional ingredients I add.

But when I came across kaffir limes at the Schaner Farm's booth at the Little Italy Mercato last week, I knew I had a match in the making. There's no disguising the powerful, astringent aroma and flavor of kaffir limes. In fact, you have to have a restrained hand to ensure that they don't overtake whatever else they're paired with. Kaffir limes are beloved in Southeast Asian and Thai cuisine. You'll find the leaves and zest used in soups, curries and curry pastes. Pair with ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk, and other regional ingredients to get the most out of them.

At home I had an unusual looking grey kabocha squash I'd gotten at OB People's Co-op. So, on a rainy evening I took a look around and pulled out a yellow onion, jalapeño peppers from my garden, garlic, chicken stock, fish sauce, spiced vinegar (easy to find at 99 Ranch Market and other Asian markets), and a chunk of ginger. I wish I'd had lemongrass and coconut milk, but no--and I wasn't about to go out in a big storm--so I made do.

The result was a thick, fragrant soup redolent of ginger and kaffir lime. Not too much. Just enough to give the mellow squash a terrific ping of flavor. A warming, spicy soup for a rain-soaked February night.

Grey Kabocha Squash Soup with Kaffir Lime and Ginger
Makes 10 cups
(printable recipe)

1, 3-pound Grey Kabocha squash (or other hard winter squash), peeled, seeded (keep the seeds), and cut into one-inch pieces
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
3 jalapeño peppers, diced
2-inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons canola or other vegetable oil
1 kaffir lime, zested and then juiced (save the juice)
32 ounces of chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons spiced vinegar (available at Asian markets)
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a large pot and add onions. Saute until translucent, then add garlic, ginger, and jalapeños. Saute another couple of minutes.
2. Add squash chunks, half the kaffir lime zest, stock, fish sauce, and vinegar. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat, cover the pot, and simmer for an hour.
4. Remove from heat. Puree in the pot with a stick blender or carefully transfer to a blender to puree. Add the rest of the kaffir lime zest and all the lime juice. Add salt to taste.

Serve!

P.S. I always save the seeds from winter squash to toast. Just put them in a colander and rinse/pull the fibers off, dry the seeds, toss with oil and salt, then roast at 300 for about 15 minutes. (Check on them frequently; they can burn in a heartbeat)


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New Series Begins for The Boulevard Cooking Class

I love hearing about new venues for cooking classes. Here's a series that gets into the heart of a community--specifically El Cajon Blvd. The Boulevard Cooking Class series, organized by Beryl Forman of the El Cajon Blvd. Business Improvement Association, includes eateries from Park to 54th St.

Photo by Beryl Forman

"One of the most exciting sectors of El Cajon Blvd. is the mom and pop restaurants so we wanted to call them out," she explains. "We had no problem rallying businesses to participate. Both the restaurants and the BIA like this approach. Instead of holding an annual grand slam kind of event, this is a way for business owners to have a one-on-one connection with customers."

April will mark the first anniversary of these classes, but this latest series begins Feb. 27 with a class at Flavors of East Africa. The price is right: $150 for all six classes:

Feb. 27: Flavors of East Africa
March 5: Tiger Tiger
March 12: Mama's Bakery
March 19: Eclipse Chocolate
March 26: El Borrego
April 2: Apertivo

The classes run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at each restaurant and--very important--they're limited to only 10 people. Forman says there are still a few spots open, but you'd better hustle to get a spot.

Forman says the the chefs teach one or two dishes and in the process tell their stories about their work and their culture.

Here's a sample video of Edward Haidar, owner of Mama's Kitchen, demonstrating how to make his hummus (he'll also be teaching his baba ganoush recipe).



In the past, Ken and Janie from Apertivo sat everyone around a table and walked the group through making ravioli.

Photo by Beryl Forman

Photo by Beryl Forman

To learn more about the series, visit the website. To sign up, contact Beryl Forman at beryl@theboulevard.org.

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Be Mine: Four Local Valentine's Treats

This is the time of year I get flooded with PR emails touting special romantic dinners at various restaurants. Ah, if only...

I long ago gave up trying to keep up with the tsunami of Valentine's day romance packages, but I do love a heart-felt gesture. So, I thought I'd mention several delicious edible Valentine's Day options for gifts that I've come across.

First up is cheese. Cheese? Yes, Taste's Mary Palmer pulled this out of a cooler at the Little Italy Mercato and, oh, did I want it. It's a Coeur Fleuri Chevre--a heart-shaped French goat cheese decorated with dried pomegranate seeds and rose petals. Truly seductive for the cheese lover. $13.50 at the Little Italy, Hillcrest, and North Park farmers markets.

Then, there's gelato. Not just any gelato, but Millie's vegan gelato--or as owner/gelato genius Susan Sbicca says, plant-based. She's made four special Valentine's Day flavors: blood-orange creamsicle (perfect topped with fresh blood orange marmalade), chocolate mint swirl (I top this with Jackie's Jams new Stehly Farms raspberry jam), coconut bing cherry (lovely with chocolate syrup), and lemon raspberry (crazy good alone but reaches a whole new dimension with Katherine Humphus's balsamic port reduction). (Sbicca may also have a passion fruit gelato. Be sure to ask.) $10 a pint at the Leucadia farmers market.

Finally, chocolate. Well, of course, chocolate! Here are two of my very favorites with some intriguing variations on an age-old theme:

Caxao holds a special place in my heart. You know that saying that you can feel the love in food? Yeah, yeah, but with Beatriz Ledezma's confections, I really can. There's something so pure and soulful about what she creates. Maybe it's just the combination of ingredients, but I think she could be a character in Like Water For Chocolate. There's something of the magic realism in her that is expressed through those truffles and caramels.

For Valentine's Day Caxao has what Beatriz calls the Je Thé Adore Collection--a seven-piece box of ganaches infused with various teas, fruits, and spices. Je thé aime, for example, is an infusion of green tea, papaya, peach, oranges, and marigold petals with a white ivory ganache and covered in 70 percent dark chocolate. $18

Then there's her delightful Pink Champagne Heart Box--11 pieces of silky white chocolate ganache and pink champagne truffles. $35

Her yet-to-be named crispy treats in a take-out box (puffed rice, puffed quinoa, rice cereal, caramelized sesame seeds, almonds, peanuts, and organic 75 percent chocolate) are dressed up for V-Day and are $6.

And, if you just want to give a little bitty truffle treat, give an Emperor Truffle--dark chocolate ganache covered in 70 percent dark chocolate. All of $2.50.

All of these are available online or at her booths at the Little Italy Mercato and Hillcrest farmers market.

For a very different kind of chocolate, you'll want to try David Bacco's truffles. He's got a beautiful 12-piece assortment for $26.95 (at Seaside Market, Albertson's Del Mar, and online). These hand-crafted sweets feature the glossy  heart-shaped incantato, a blend of passion fruit, caramel, and milk chocolate ganache.

Then, there's his extravagant hand-painted edible heart box filled with two incantatos, serene (milk chocolate caramel ganache), citral (a fusion of lemongrass and 71 percent bittersweet chocolate, euphoria (a dreamy Hazelnut gianduja), and montserrat (Caribbean spices with ancho and chipotle). This package is $29.95.

Bacco is also collaborating with Sea Rocket Bistro for Valentine's Day dinner, with executive chef Tommy Fraioli using chocolate in each course, with a dessert created by Bacco that incorporates Sea Rocket's bacon jam.

Now, I'm sure I missed a lot. So fill in the gaps with your favorite Valentine's day edibles!

♥♥♥

P.S. My buddy Sam Zien, "Sam the Cooking Guy," is doing a special event on February 18 at 7 p.m. called "Sam Live." He'll be on the stage of the Joan Kroc Theater doing live cooking, showing video clips, telling behind-the-scenes stories, taking audience questions, and then signing books. You can learn how this frustrated biotech exec ended up with a TV cooking show. And, opening for Sam will be Australian bartender Hayden Wood from Woody's Liquid Kitchen (featured on Oprah and known as the most entertaining bartender in the world).

Here's the link for tickets--the big deal about this is that a portion of the proceeds will go to support Salvation Army/Kroc Center scholarship programs. General admission tickets are $60.

I've got two tickets to give away to this event. Just write a comment about the best edible Valentine's Day gift you ever gave or received. I'll pick what I think is the most moving (or funny) comment. The deadline for comments is noon PST on Monday, Feb. 13, 2012.

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Green Thresher Shark Sausage: Sustainable and Delicious

Green thresher shark sausage with toast and a fried egg

How much of what we eat today is food we wouldn't have considered a menu item 10 or 20 years ago? Perhaps quinoa. Sardines. Octopus. Gluten-free anything.

So, today I ask you to think about adding some green thresher shark to your diet--particularly if you live in Southern California, where it is abundant.

I learned about the shark from Tommy Gomes and Dan Nattrass of Catalina Offshore Products, a San Diego seafood wholesaler that strives for sustainability. They and owner Dave Rudie found that local swordfish fishermen tend to get the thresher shark as by catch. Unwilling to just discard it, the fishermen approached Catalina OP about buying it up to sell to chefs and walk-in customers. In fact, Rudie says, they've been selling it for over 12 years but the wholesale market dropped around 18 months ago when most supermarkets took it off their shelves due to pressure from environmental non-governmental organizations, or ENGOs.

One of the reasons ENGOs were protesting shark harvesting was due to something that's been in the news recently, fishing sharks only for their fins. While this barbaric practice has been illegal in California and banned to U.S. fishermen for years, it continues around the world. So, the big ENGOs have campaigned not only to stop shark finning, but to stop the sale of sharks for meat in California. Additionally, says Rudie, the Monterey Bay Aquarium set almost all shark species to a red rating, meaning they're overfished.

"But NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) does the science to understand if a species is over-fished and they found that the stocks are healthy," says Rudie. "The Aquarium of the Pacific was the first ENGO to stand up and support NOAA and the local fishermen by giving green thresher shark a good rating last year. And now the Monterey Bay Aquarium has also changed their rating to yellow."

And, Rudie and Gomes both pointed out that these sharks weren't targeted for fishing, they were by catch. Unless they were sold, their bodies would be tossed back into the ocean.

You can now find green thresher shark in San Diego at places like Mitch's Seafood, The Pearl Hotel, Lisko Artisan Deli, The Fish Market, Pt. Loma Seafood, El Pescador, Pelleys, Stumps and Harvest Ranch markets.

At Catalina Offshore Products you can buy shark steaks or loins for $3.99 a pound. The fish is firm, like swordfish, with a clean, sweet flavor. They're perfect for grilling, baking, or broiling. Most of the fish is caught during swordfish season--August to February--but Catalina OP and others do freeze it and sell it as "re-fresh" or will make burgers or sausage.

In fact, in a collaboration between Catalina OP, Lisko Artisan Deli, and chef Chad White of Sea Rocket Bistro and soon Gabardine, a delicious green thresher shark sausage came to be. Catalina OP had the shark, Lisko had the sausage grinder, and White the recipe, which he's given to me.

Shark sausage is ridiculously easy to make and has a wonderful spicy smoky flavor. There are any number of ways to use it--and I'm hoping White will add more of his ideas below. But you can start by forming patties and pan frying them. Make a breakfast sausage and serve with toast and a fried egg. Form into a small sausage or hot dog shape and wrap in plastic wrap, then poach for a few minutes, unwrap, and grill. Keep it loose and saute with vegetables and add to pasta or rice or grains. Add to burritos, to stew. Basically use it as you would use ground meat, sausage, or hot dog -- only there's little fat to worry about.

Here's Chad White's sausage recipe:

Green Thresher Shark Sausage
By Chad White
(printable recipe here)

2.5 pounds shark

½ cup garlic, minced

½ cup shallot, minced

½ cup Italian flatleaf parsley, minced

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 tablespoons sea salt

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 capful liquid smoke

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

3/8 cup white wine

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. Slightly freeze shark, slice into finger-width pieces and run through grinder (including Kitchen Aid grinder attachment set at largest grind at top speed).
2. Mix shark with the rest of the ingredients.
3. Shape mixture into patties or form into sausages and put into casings and steam.

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San Diego Food Swap: From Soup to Nuts

I've written about San Diego Crop Swap, but it turns that we have another similarly themed group in town--San Diego Food Swap. This group, which has met monthly since April, has a little broader mission, as the name implies. It's not just about exchanging excess harvest bounties (think zucchini), it's about sharing homemade dishes, beverages, or products (including soap, toiletries, and pet food) that may or may not include homegrown produce.

Anyone in the community may participate--and there are FAQs on the website that explain the parameters. No, you don't have to exchange recipes but, yes, please label your product in case someone may have an allergy to an ingredient. Yes, to homemade beer and wine, but keep it to samples at the event. Make it, label it, sign it up on the website, and then decide the value of it compared to what you want to exchange it for. It's that easy--and that fun.

So much fun, in fact, that organizer Hillary Starbright Condon decided to have a soup contest. The event, held last Saturday at the Ocean Beach Women's Club, drew a couple of dozen people and nine competitors. The judges were Sam Zien (Sam, the Cooking Guy), Ed Decker of San Diego CityBeat, comedian Jesse Egan, and, well, me.

For the first hour, it was all about set up and exchange. Serious exchange. How many jars of lemon curd, hot fudge, or candied nuts would Gia Strang exchange for, perhaps, Peggy Spitz's lavender heart cookies or Lisa Stockton's Meyer lemon meringue pie or Sandy and Jared D'Onofrio's Dangerously Good Irish Cream?

Lisa Stockton's ware: French Onion Soup, Lemon Meringue Pie, and Chipotle Salsa

 These folks are serious about their food. Spitz is all about lavender. She makes sugar cookies infused with the herb and lavender jam. She swears that if you dry the herb and remove the flowers, the stems create a wonderful smoke that permeates proteins when added to the grill. She also spent years refining her treasured recipe for her Burgershire Soup, inspired by the Cheshire Inn in St. Louis, a restaurant that she visited before her marriage, now decades ago. This is one of the soup entries in the contest.

Peggy Spitz's Burgershire Soup with homemade crackers

Judging was based on three criteria: taste, presentation, and creativity. Some folks, like Spitz, really got into the presentation. But, of course, the most weight was given to taste and though the competition was tight, we each had the same clear winner: Gia Strang's African Peanut Soup.

This was a rich, stew-like dish, with deeply layered flavors that come from chopped peanuts and peanut butter, chicken stock, ginger, garlic, onion, cayenne pepper, yams, sweet potato, chunks of chicken, and cilantro.

The group's next event--on Feb. 18 from 2 to 4 p.m., also at the Ocean Beach Women's Club--will include a Holiday Bake Off with cash prizes and "celebrity" judges. This is definitely something to check out--these folks are fun.

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Dear Paula Deen

Dear Paula Deen:
We don't know one another, but it turns out we have something in common. Something we both kept quiet about--but for different reasons, apparently. I waited about 10 months before coming out with my diabetes, mostly because I wanted to wait until I had spent enough time working on changing my diet, making exercise a (mostly) daily part of my life, and losing a big enough chunk of weight that I felt I could offer something to others going through the same thing.

Apparently you waited until you got a juicy financial deal with a big pharmaceutical company.

Okay, I realize that I'm sounding pretty sanctimonious. In fact, I started writing something this morning about the circus you've created in the last couple of days. Then I erased it all because I didn't want to pile on. This diabetes stuff is scary and everyone handles it differently. Who am I to judge? Plus, I truly don't want to become "diabetes girl."

But all through the day, the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. And late this afternoon when I saw that clip of you with your sons on The Chew I'd had enough.

Your diagnosis came three years ago. Yet, for the past three years--knowing (I assume) the impact of diet on diabetes--you continued your very public fat fest, promoting a caricature of Southern food. Hey, not even just Southern food. You have an upcoming episode on Feb. 2, "Cravin' Italian," that features "Cheesy Pizza Dip with Pizza Crust Dippers." What are the ingredients? Cream cheese, Canadian bacon, regular bacon, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and pizza crust dough. Oh, how about that "Smashed Potato Cake" on the Jan. 17 show, "Lovey Dovey Dinner?" We've got potatoes, of course, butter, Cheddar cheese, sour cream, and bacon. Yum. And kiss of death. I heard you recently on the NPR show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," as you described the food in your kitchen and fridge--cakes, roasts, who knows what else... If it was for comic effect, congrats, you got your laugh. But if it was real, God help you.

Look, Paula, adult-onset Type 2 diabetes is associated with all sorts of health issues, not the least of which are heart disease and stroke. I would guess that you're not only taking your diabetes medication but probably cholesterol meds and baby aspirin as well. This is serious stuff.

You've said that you believe that these high-fat, high-carb foods are fine in moderation. Okay. I get that we all need to indulge periodically. I do it. I did it a bit today, having a few French fries and a couple of bites of a bratwurst at lunch. Then I pushed it aside and gave it to my friend to take home to her kids. I enjoy a small piece of chocolate. Last week I ate a tiny piece of my mom's lemon cake. Butter? Sure, a small bit periodically. Cheese? Yep, an ounce on toast (yes, I weigh it). Pizza? Uh, no. We have to count our carbs, remember? Fried chicken? Biscuits? Cheesecake? No, no, and no. No! Not anymore.

Paula, get real. You have diabetes. I have diabetes. Some 25 million people in this country have diabetes. We're talking total lifestyle change. You can't seriously have thought it was cool to keep pushing butter and cheese, bacon and sausage, plush desserts and deep fried foods on viewers knowing that these contribute to a frightening epidemic of obesity which, yes, leads to diabetes.

I have written that I think of diabetes as my disease of self-indulgence. I can't say that it's also yours. Maybe your family has a history of diabetes. Maybe it was just bad luck. But you've built an empire on promoting over-the-top fatty food. When people think of you, that's the association--fair or not. Karma? Perhaps. But, I think you might have come clean long before your big-time financial deal and taken the opportunity to turn your many fans onto healthy eating and exercise. It could have been your Oprah moment (not that she's much of a role model in this area these days...).

You might take your new pharma windfall and not just donate to the American Diabetes Association, but also spread that largesse on organizations that educate children and families on nutrition, healthy cooking, and exercise.

In fact, let's talk about this new source of income. Basically, the way my doctor explained it to me, my goal should be to lose enough weight that I can get off the medications and manage my diabetes through diet and exercise. I'm grateful to have medication for now, but I am working so hard to put it in my rearview mirror. I'd love to get some pharma money, too. In fact, I reached out to one company to inquire about writing about lifestyle and diet issues on their website to help people with diabetes make changes in their lives so that they can get off the meds. You can imagine that heaping big serving of silence I got. I congratulate you on figuring out how to become their spokesperson. But, after three years, I would have thought that you would have worked hard to get off those meds already. Looking at you today in that big lavender tent blouse, though, it doesn't look like you've been making a big effort to work in that direction. I truly hope you're not one of those people who believes that the meds alone will keep you healthy.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. Who knows where I'll be three years after my diagnosis. Maybe I won't be able to keep this up. Maybe despite my best efforts my body will still degenerate. I have said that I keep the image of an anvil swinging over my head to motivate and focus me. Perhaps, instead, I'll replace it with that image of you--still overweight, hawking diabetes meds--to keep me going.

Dear Paula, I know you have to maintain the Deen machine, but if you really want to get some credibility (and improve your health), you'll do more than promote your "Diabetes in a New Light" program. You'll do more than push pills. You'll show us by example.

And, now, back to our regularly scheduled programming next week.


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Tempting Turnips: Enjoying from Root to Stem

Whenever I make zucchini pancakes with the kids at Olivewood Gardens I always ask them to give me ideas for other vegetable pancakes they could make using the recipe."Carrots!," they'll shout. "Broccoli! Cauliflower! Sweet potato!"

No one ever shouted out turnips--and I never thought to suggest it. But the folks at Specialty Produce gave me a bag filled with beautiful baby gold, pink, and Japanese turnips last week.

And, it occurred to me that they are among the few vegetables that are edible from root to stem. So, not only could I make pancakes from the root, I could also saute the greens for a delicious side dish.

I'm going to assume that like me, you see turnips as one of those root vegetables that you pick up to add to a chicken soup stock, but otherwise ignore. It's been a big mistake for me. These baby turnips in particular are not only very pretty, with their bold colors, they're really delicious. Raw, they're sweet with just a hint of spiciness--kind of like radishes. Cooked, they're melt-in-your mouth sweet.

And, what I especially appreciate about them is that they're low in carbs. So, for dealing with diabetes, I can create dishes that I would otherwise use potatoes for and have something equally delicious but less problematic. So, mashed turnips instead of mashed potatoes. Scalloped turnips. Sauteed turnips. You get the idea. And, I can eat them raw, chopped into a salad. Can't do that with potatoes.

So, I'm a convert. I took a bunch of those gold baby turnips, trimmed and cleaned the greens, rendered the fat from half a slice of diced bacon and sauteed the greens in the fat with garlic and added the bacon pieces and sliced boiled turnips. They were delicious with a scoop of cooked millet.

Later in the week, I grated more turnips and made turnip pancakes--frying some in rendered duck fat and the rest in olive oil. I think I've come up with a competitive latke dish for next Chanukah. Crisp and sweet, they look so pretty from start--grated and then molded into pancakes--to finish.

Making them is very easy--and they're a great way to introduce your kids to a new veggie (and maybe even yourself). Be sure to use a cast iron skillet to get them extra crispy. They're also freezable. Reheat them straight from the freezer in a 350-degree oven until warmed through and crisp.

Baby Turnip Pancakes
(Printable recipe)
Makes about two dozen, three-inch pancakes

Ingredients
1 pound of baby turnips, trimmed but not peeled
6 large green onions, trimmed
3 cloves garlic
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup Panko or seasoned bread crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons fresh, chopped herbs (parsley, oregano, thyme, etc.)
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil or rendered duck fat for frying

1. Grate the turnips coarsely, using the large holes of a box grater or food processor grater. Put the grated turnips in a colander, set over a bowl, and let the liquid drain from the turnips.
2. Chop the green onions coarsely and add to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Add the garlic and pulse until the onions and garlic are minced.
3. Put all the vegetables in a large bowl and add the Panko, baking powder, herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir it all together to fully mix the ingredients.
4. Add the eggs and mix well. The batter should be moist but not runny.
5. Heat 1/4-inch of oil or duck fat in a hot pan. Place a tiny bit of the batter in the pan. If it begins to sizzle, the fat is hot enough for the batter. Use a large spoon and drop the batter into the pan, then flatten into a pancake. Don't crowd the pancakes by putting too many in at one time. Cook for several minutes on each side until the pancakes are golden brown. Put the pancakes on a plate with paper towels placed on top to drain the fat. Then serve (with applesauce, sour cream, or creme fraiche).

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