cakewalk

Yes, this is a big part of joining a CSA, and it's one I've come to appreciate a lot more over the past few years. I belonged to a small CSA for two seasons. I was extremely disappointed in both quality and quantity of the produce after the first season, but felt I had to give it another season before making a decision. (Sometimes a farm will have a bad season; that's when they need your support.) After the second season left me with the same disappointments, I found another CSA. I like this one a lot -- the produce is much better, there is more variety, I get enough produce to actually cook something (in the first CSA we would get one leek; what am I supposed to do with one leek?), etc. So sometimes you have to shop around. It turns out that several people in the new CSA I joined also used to belong to the CSA I left, and they left it too, for pretty much the same reasons I did. At the beginning of the season, when pretty much all we were getting were greens of one sort or another, I was a bit overwhelmed. But then I got to enjoy learning about them, figuring out what I'd do with them this week. Sometimes I didn't get to it quickly enough and it would spoil, but mostly it worked out well and I enjoyed the challenge. I live in Manhattan, and we have to pick up our shares at one of the local community centers. I see a lot of people mention that their shares are dropped off at their homes. This is of course convenient and nice, but I wonder how/if this effects the sense of "community" for a CSA. The once-a-week pickups are a time to see other CSA shareholders, say hello, etc., even if only briefly. It's kind of like "market day." Anyway, to the original poster, I'd first ask where you're located, what's the growing season, etc? Talk to others in your CSA. Voice your reservations, there might be good responses to them. Let the entire season progress before making any decisions. The CSA might start to grow on you.

Ages ago, when "Recipes for a Small Planet" was all the rage, one of my favorite recipes from that book was Roasted Wheat and Celery Au Gratin. What with various moves and shifting countries and whatnot, I lost the book a long time ago. But a couple of years ago I came across it in a second-hand book store and I bought it. I immediately made the celery recipe -- and I thought it was absolutely vile! I think it was because of all that milk -- I remember even when I was making it, the milk sort of made me gag. I've often thought that if I perhaps used vegetable stock instead of milk, I would enjoy it still, but I haven't yet tried it. In any case, the recipe is below, paraphrased somewhat; it uses quite a bit of celery. (I used to double the recipe, I liked it so much!) Adapted from Recipes for a Small Planet by Ellen Buchman Ewald Roasted Wheat and Celery Au Gratin (6 portions) 2 cups chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped green onions 1/2 tsp celery seed 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup bulgar wheat (uncooked) 1/4 cup oil 1 1/2 cups milk 1 1/2 cups water 1 cup grated cheese of your choice 1 cup breadcrumbs Saute celery, green onions, celery seed, salt & bulgar in the oil in a flameproof casserole dish. Saute until celery is soft. Combine milk with the water, and add to celery mixture. Simmer partially covered 15 minutes, until most but not all liquid is absorbed. Add 3/4 cup cheese and stir it in; spread the rest of the cheese on top. Sprinkle bread crumbs, dot with butter. Bake at 325F for 15 minutes, until firm and sizzling a bit at the sides.

weinoo -- I read the article on Sunday, and read your response with interest. Espresso is still very new to me, and in truth at this stage I wouldn't know a good from a bad pull if it hit me in the head. But I sure as hell would know hot from not hot, and even to this novice that sounds unacceptable. Have you contacted coffee shop managers/owners with your feedback? I think maybe they are cashing in on most people's ignorance? (IOW, am I about to become a sucker?!) Do you think the problem has anything to do with the coffee that is being used? Or is it the method? Intelligentisa Coffee (which is where I order my coffee, although I use a French press) has weekly (free) cuppings in NY, and I am going to one tomorrow morning. (Call in advance for an appointment.) I am half-tempted to bring your comments with me! I like to know what I should be looking for in a good espresso -- hopefully I'll learn a lot tomorrow.

Nothing to be ashamed about. (Happy Birthday!)

I recently bought some green beans because I want to start learning about roasting. Bought them on a whim with my last haul from Intelligentsia. Since then I've found the Sweet Maria's website and have been reading. I don't have any roasting paraphernalia at this stage, will try very small amounts in my cast iron frying pan at first, mostly just to see what happens to the beans during the roasting process. I've been a bit chicken about starting. But anyway, I'm interested in reading about what other people are doing.

Not food related, but since you're planning to be there anyway: every February in Jerez de la Frontera there is the Flamenco Festival. If you're there during the week (or 10 days) it is held, try to get to some dance performances. (You can also take classes -- bring your ruby slippers!) It will help you work up an appetite. Also -- lots of nice fish restaurants in Cadiz, a brief train ride away from Jerez. Enjoy.

So I did make tzimmes, sort of a combination of two recipes from JFLinLA and whatever else I thought it needed. It came out great, if I may say so myself. It went more or less like this: 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks 1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 2" chunks about 3/4 lb pitted prunes one very large (enormous, really) red onion, cut into wedges some fresh ginger, peeled and in 1" chunks, thrown in (don't forget to remove them later) 1 cup orange juice mixed with 1 cup water 3/4 cup honey salt and pepper cinnamon I wanted it to be sweet, but not too sweet. All the recipes I had seen for vegetarian tzimmes looked absolutely cloyingly sweet. Some added a cup of brown sugar in addition to the honey, with fewer vegetables than I've listed above. So I left out the brown sugar altogether and added red onion and ginger. It made for a very nice combination. I first cooked it in a large pot on the stovetop for about 3/4 of an hour. (All of it together.) Then I transferred it to a baking dish (I buttered the baking dish not because I was worried about sticking, but because I wanted some butter in there) and baked at 350 for about an hour. When I transferred it to the baking dish I poured out most of the "syrup." I made a slurry of some flour mixed with a bit of the syrup, and poured it back over tzimmes before it finished baking. And that was it really. It was very good, and I think the addition of the savory elements is what did it. I would definitely do this again. Thanks JFL!

Those baby pomegranates are are so sweet! And are those small round green things uncured olives? Did you go seven-species picking? Shana Tova.

Those are absolutely beautiful. I made rugelach a while ago using Dorrie Greenspan's recipe, which I think is excellent. However, I do not have the same "control of the dough" as you obviously have!

Del Monte is Japanese? I used to eat only Heinz, until one year around Passover time I bought a kosher-for-Passover brand called Gefen. And I really liked it, much more than Heinz. I was trying to figure out what the difference in taste was -- because it was very noticeably different -- and then I realized that since it was kosher for Passover it must be made with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. I like the taste so much better. I usually buy two or three bottles every Passover. (Gets me through the year.) I've never tried banana ketchup. I have to admit that the idea sorta grosses me out, I guess because I'm not used to it. And now reading that it's red!! But I'll have to get over it and try it out. (What do you do with it? -- Does banana ketchup have a thread of its own?)

I want to hide under my bed. I refuse to measure my baking pans! I won't! So there!

Great thread. (True ketchup lover here.) But quite a suprise for me -- since I (chauvanistically, I admit) always think of ketchup as the all-American condiment. Thanks for that list of links to learn from!

I still can't get my photos to download, and don't really have the time to play with it. But the teiglach I made recently, while very good right after it was made, turned into quite the horror by the next day. Hard as a rock, extremely unpleasant and unappetizing. It also seemed to strike a chord of deja vu. I think maybe teiglach is one of those things that is better in theory than in reality. In the meantime, my honey cakes are in the oven, I'll stick to those. (No pun intended.) Shana Tova! (Edited for spelling.)

I just ordered some as well. I'm too curious not to. But I have to admit I'm a little wary. Thanks for all the info (and thanks for merging these threads -- I did a search for Tonka Beans before starting the new topic -- it didn't come up. Oh well.)

I never heard of them before, but they're mentioned on yesterday's Serious Eats (someone used them in place of cardamom in Dorrie Greenspan's dimply plum cake.) So I've been reading about them, and they sound absolutely incredible. But apparently they are illegal in the US!! They contain a substance call 'coumarin' which is toxic in large doses. But I have to have some! Anybody every use this stuff? Are you still alive to tell the tale? Is it possible to buy them in the States? (I looked them up on Penzey's website; they don't exist.) Or do I have to get my friends from Canada to smuggle them in?

Cake -- Just sent you a detailed PM. Tell you what, once you experiment with these, perfect them and make them your own, then you can post the recipe for all of us to see and we won't have to worry about the copyright. Mazel Tov and Shanah Tovah. Jody ← Thanks so much. I'm actually looking forward to doing this! BTW -- I did finally find 2 tzimmes recipes in the book I mentioned -- they were in the index under "sweet potatoes"!! I wasn't crazy about either recipe. Shana Tova.

Cakewalk -- Tzimmes galore. I've put a * by the ones where meat is an integral component. In a few others, they only have beef suet or chicken fat so you could easily substitute oil. Seems that pressure cookers were the new-found kitchen time saver in the 1940's. Here are the varieties, mostly their titles: Carrot Tzimmes * Carrot Tzimmes (Pressure Cooker Method) * Tzimmes Knaidle (Dumpling) Tzimmes of Carrots (Meatless) Lima Bean Tzimmes (Balkan Style) Rutabaga Tzimmes * (Also contains a recipe for a milchig variation) Tzimmes of Dried Fruits (Balkan Style) (contains 2 variations on the recipe) Varieties of Prune Tzimmes Prune & Farfel Tzimmes * Prune & Farfel Tzimmes (Pressure Cooker Method) * Prune & Farfel Tzimmes (Meatless or Milchig) (also has pressure cooker method) Prune & Potato Tzimmes * (also has pressure cooker method & 2 variations of the basic recipe including one that is milchig) Prune & Rice Tzimmes * (Without Sweetening) (also has 2 variations of the basic recipe including one milchig) So, let me know what interests you. Also, I've haven't tried any of these recipes and could use some guidance on how I can pass the info along here given the copyright, even if it's from 1949. ← Okay, so I would love to see the recipes for: Tzimmes of Carrots and Prune & Potato Tzimmes If the copyright restrictions prevent you from posting them, would you mind sending me a PM? BTW -- I have a book of recipes compiled from The Forward. The book was published in 1946. I've looked through it, mostly because it's fun as well as funny (" ... take 3 dozen eggs ..."), but the recipes are surprisingly disappointing. I think it's because they tried too hard to Americanize everything. And I cannot find a single recipe for tzimmes!!! Thanks a lot. Shana Tova!

Wow, that's an impressive list! Lima bean tzimmes. Rutabaga tzimmes. Let me sleep on this one. (It's late.) I'm pretty sure I'd like to work out a combination of the Tzimmes of Carrots and the Prune and Potato Tzimmes. Not sure what to do about the copyright stuff. If you were going to make tzimmes, which would you chose? Would you combine several? Thank you.

That actually sounds fascinating. Do they say anything about tzimmes? Different recipes? I would like to make a non-meat tzimmes and I don't really like the looks of most of the recipes I've found so far.

" ... whiffs of Birkenstocks." Very good. In terms of geography, however, I'd say Colorado, not California. Maybe it's the altitude.

Well, I just made Claudia Roden's teiglach recipe. I took some photos, too, and if I can figure out how to post them, you'll get to see them. Roden's recipe is a bit different from most of the others I've seen. She recommends kneading the dough for at least ten minutes and then letting it rest in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. No other recipe I've seen mentions this; they just say to add the flour to the egg & oil mixture until the dough can be handled, and then start rolling the dough into long ropes. Roden then boils the dough in honey with lemon zest and ginger. Every other recipe I've seen combines the honey with equal (if not greater) amounts of sugar and sometimes water as well. The honey does foam up a lot, and the addition of sugar and/or water might minimize that. Some recipes suggest baking the dough before cooking it in the honey. Roden mentions this method, but she says that it tends to make the dough very hard. (I told a friend of mine I was making teiglach and she said, "Isn't that rocks covered with honey?" She has a point.) Anyway, I like this recipe. The dough pieces are not too hard -- they're chewy, in fact they're rather a nice texture. (They might turn into rocks by tomorrow, though -- I'll keep you posted.) I can't make comparisons to other recipes, though. (I probably won't try them today.) I'll post the photos later.

If it rains this weekend, that just might happen.

Every year I intend to make this. (I have about ten different recipes.) And every year I never get to it because I'm having guests and doing too much other stuff. But this year ...

I've been looking for different ways to empty my refrigerator, which is currently filled with my CSA's eggplant and zucchini (among other things.) Ratatouille is the perfect solution. Today I found a recipe for "Cornmeal-Crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart" (I think it was from the food network), which I will try this weekend.

Chez Pim had some interesting things to say, plus a recipe: http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2008/02/five-spice-brai.html Still think it's odd that it is hardly used in China.