Good Food News Archive - March 18, 2003

Article: Cooking with kitchen scraps
Featured this week... STRAWBERRIES, PASTRY FLOUR
Recipes: Strawberry and rhubarb crumble, Strawberry smoothie, Finnish pancakes

Article: Cooking with kitchen scraps

By: Marlena Speiler, San Francisco Cronicle
Portions reprinted from the Toronto Star, Saturday March 1, 2003

Before you clean out the fridge and toss those faded vegetables, scraps of cheese, dabs of marmalade and ghosts of meals past, think about how you could use them. Here are a few ideas.

Stale bread: This is a real treasure. Slice it and use for croutons or crostini. Soften it in water, squeeze dry and dress for a summery bread salad, Italian-style. Make bread pudding (especially food with stale challah, brioche or raisin bread). Mix different kinds for interesting holiday stuffing.

Citrus zest: Cut off the colourful part of the peel of and orange, lemon, lime or grapefruit. Lightly dry it in a slow oven or wrap it well and freeze it. It gives great flavour to marinades, soups, sauces, roasts, seasoning oils, baked goods and desserts.
To make candied citrus peel, take the whole rind, pith and all, and cut it into strips.
Parboil for two minutes and repeat. Dry. Combine three parts water and one part sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the citrus strips and cook over medium-low heat until they become translucent. Taste one carefully to see if it is tender and candied. Remove with a slotted spoon to a cooling rack to dry. Roll in granulated sugar.

Halloween pumpkin seeds: Rinse the seeds and soak them in a bowl covered with salted water for about an hour. Brain. Spread in a single layer on paper towels and fry for about 30 minutes. Spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer, drizzle with olive oil, soy sauce and salt, then roast in a 375F oven 30 to 40 minutes. If they are browning too quickly, reduce the temperature or remove them sooner. Eat them shell and all.

Green onion tops: Some people actually throw these away! Chop and use them to flavour salads, soups, grilled cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs or almost anything.

The last dab of mustard or jam: Pour a little vinegar into the jar and swish around, then incorporate it into a vinaigrette. A little cranberry sauce, blackberry preserve or tarragon mustard can give a delicious lift to a simple vinaigrette.

Potato peels: These treasures can be made into an additive snack. Wash potatoes and scrub the skins well. Peel them with a paring knife, leaving a bit of potato on the skin. Dry skins in a towel, then toss them in extra virgin olive oil and arrange in a singe layer on a baking sheet. Scatter a few whole unpeeled garlic cloves around the pan if you like. Roast at 350F for about 30 minutes, longer if necessary, until the skins are crisply brown and crunchy. Meanwhile, chop a couple of raw garlic cloves and a little fresh rosemary. If you have no rosemary, use chopped parsley. When the potato skins come out of the oven, toss them with the chopped garlic mixture and sprinkle with coarse salt. Eat hot and crispy.

Leftover wine: Turn the remains of last night's red into a rich red wine sauce or add it to a simmering stew of lamb or beef. White or red can be the basis of sauces, slashed into a skillet to deglaze, turned into the base for a barbecue marinade or used to poach fruit such as pears or peaches. Tightly-corked wine lasts well for about a week in the refrigerator.

Stale corn tortillas: Make these into chilaquiles: Cut them into strops and fry until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Combine a bit of simmering chicken broth with tomatillo salsa or a mild re chili sauce. Top tortillas with sauce and shredded mild cheese such as Monterey jack, and bake until the cheese milts and sizzles. Sautéed chorizo and a little chopped garlic may be added too. Serve with chopped raw onion.

Celery leaves and trimmings: Celery is three vegetables for the price of one. In addition to the crisp stalks, you get celery leaves and the base. Use the leaves as seasoning for soups, sauces, and stews. Use the base to flavour soups and bean dishes.

Leftover raw vegetables: If you have an odd assortment of raw vegetables, make a light batter and fry them up and serve on a platter. Herbs (such as sage leaves) or cheese cubes are delicious added to the mix. Feta is particularly wonderful.

Beet Greens: Don't ever throw these out. Toss them into boiling water to wilt, then drain and dress with extra virgin olive oil, a squirt of tangy lemon and a few olives on the side.

Leftover cooked vegetables: Purée leftover winter vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and turnips. Add a little chopped sautéed shallot or onion. Warm it all through with several cups of broth. Season to taste, stir in a little cream and garnish with chopped green onion tops.

Leftover barbecued or roasted vegetables: Coarsely chop the vegetables (such as peppers, eggplant and zucchini). Toss with al dente pasta. Or turn them into a spicy salsa.

Featured this week... STRAWBERRIES, PASTRY FLOUR

STRAWBERRIES
This week you’ll find strawberries in your box. Some of you will have already tasted these delicious strawberries but they will be new to the organic boxes. These California berries bring a taste of spring to come. Mary Lou was able to get a very good price for the strawberries and so we thought they would be the perfect treat to start a new season. In the last few years, the cool spring temperatures and sudden hot and dry spells have wreaked havok on Ontario strawberry crops. As such, they have been of poor quality or astronomically expensive. We hope you enjoy these lovely berries.
All strawberries should be washed well before eating. The fuzz found on strawberries tends to affect some people with allergic reactions such as hives. A good way to avoid getting hives is to run hot water over them, then immediately follow this by running cold water over them. This process takes the fuzz off the outside of the berries, which is believed to cause the allergic reaction.

PASTRY FLOUR
The organic boxes will get to try some special flour. This organically grown soft wheat flour was milled on a farm in a stone mill by one of our farmers. Franz is an old order Mennonite and takes great pride in his organic product and this is also reflected in the packaging. Enjoy the unusual opportunity to have Ontario-grown wheat.

Recipes:

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

1/4 cup butter (or margarine)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups chopped rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups halved strawberries
2/3 cup white sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. lemon juice
boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Let cool slightly. Stir in flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until crumbly. Press half of the mixture into buttered 9 inch baking dish. Cover with chopped fruit. Mix white sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Boil some water and add enough of it to lemon juice to make 1 cup. Stir this mixture gradually into sugar cornstarch and cook over medium heat until thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour evenly over fruit. Sprinkle with remaining flour/oats mixture and pat lightly into place. Bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly and golden.

Strawberry Smoothie

8 strawberries, hulled
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cubes ice, crushed

In a blender combine strawberries, milk, yogurt, sugar and vanilla. Toss in the ice. Blend until smooth and creamy. Pour
into glasses and serve.

Finnish Pancakes

Finn pancakes are a tradition in Thunder Bay. I first had them at a famous place called The Hoito in an area known as Little Finland in downtown Thunder Bay. The Hoito has been serving up these wonderful pancakes since the early 1900’s. The recipe for the actual Hoito pancakes is very closely guarded and what we present here is a close approximation to the secret recipe. Finnish pancakes are thinner than most pancakes you've probably had, almost like crepes.

2 cups milk
1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix well by hand. Preheat greased pan on high heat and then turn down to medium heat. Pour in one spoonful (use a ladel or a large tablespoon). Depending on the size of your skillet, cook one or two at a time. The pancake mixture keeps well in the refrigerator. I am told that The Hoito makes theirs the night before. Perhaps that’s their secret! These pancakes taste great with drizzles of maple syrup and fresh cut strawberries.