Preserved Lemons, part 1

I follow a LOT of food blogs. Since I'm up at odd hours feeding Luke, I spend a lot of time reading about unusual things like preserved lemons at 3:00 am. Lately, I've read about preserved lemons on at least 5 or 6 different blogs... a trend? 

I wasn't entirely sure what one does with them until I read Use Real Butter's Moroccan chickpea butternut squash stew... with preserved lemon. That sealed the deal. Well, that, and finding Meyer lemons on sale at PCC! 

I found a few recipes online for preserved lemons. It seemed pretty straightforward. It is important to buy organic lemons, however, because you'll eventually be eating the peel. No sense in consuming more pesticides than necessary, right?

After washing the lemons, trim off the ends. This project smells delicious! 

Gather your salt! I had both rock salt and sea salt. I used both, for no other reason than because rock salt is pretty. I think any salt will do, though. (This project also lets you know if you have any cuts on your hands.)

Slice each lemon in quarters without cutting through the base. (It's prettier this way.) Then sprinkle salt on the tops, and inside the lemon. 

Then, after sprinkling a layer of salt in the bottom of the jar, cram the lemons in. Sprinkle layers of salt in as you go. I estimate that I used about a half cup of salt. 

Then, squeeze several lemons worth of juice into the jar. Don't worry about the seeds. The juice is supposed to cover the lemons. Seal the jar, and let sit out for three days. I gave it a gentle shake every time I walked by the jar. After three days, stick it in the fridge. 

My jar has been sitting in the fridge for about two weeks, and they'll be ready to use in another two weeks! I've been plotting more recipes to use with them- has anyone else cooked with preserved lemon? 

2012 Food Challenge, Part 3

Seattle is a great place to live if you're a foodie. There's a huge diversity of food available- lots of Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese and "asian fusion" restaurants. The city is full of hipster-yuppies (as Nathan would say) who also consider themselves foodies, and there's seemingly a hipster-yuppie restaurant catering to every food genre. There's a farmer's market on every corner, and a plethora of eco-friendly eateries.

And, oh, gosh. Don't get me started on ice cream. I haven't lived in the Seattle area for the past 5 years, and it seems like during my absence a fancy-ice-cream-shop trend started. (When I left in 2006, fancy-donut-shops were the trend.) My favorite shop is Molly Moon's, where for about $5.50 you can get a gigantic scoop of creatively flavored ice cream. I like Earl Grey, salted caramel, and honey lavender.

Since we may be in Seattle for a while, I'd like to get out-and-about a bit more and explore the foodie options that Seattle has to offer.

The third part of my 2012 Food Challenge is going to be the most fun. I've started compiling a list of things that I'm calling "Food Adventuring". It's still incomplete, because I'd like to be flexible with this one and take my adventures as I can get them. This is what I've got so far:

2012 Food Challenge, Part 3: Food Adventuring.

1. Eat at Paseo restaurant
2. Eat at Delancey restaurant
3. Grow something (yes, vague.)
4. Cook and eat the following unusual vegetables:
     a. sunchokes,
     b. rutabaga,
     c. ramps,
     d. kohlrabi,
     e. sweet potato leaves
5. Take a knife skills class (seriously so excited!)
6. Grow mushrooms (there are apparently kits you can buy to do this- it sounds fascinating.)
7.-12. unknown!

If you've got suggestions for interesting food adventures (that don't cost an arm and a leg), do let me know!

2012 Food Challenge, Part 2

Part two of my 2012 Food Challenge is where I get to celebrate the kitchen at our current home. It's pretty gorgeous. There's a huge sink, tons of counter space, and a 6-burner gas stove. The oven is gigantic, and my housemates have many fancy pots and pans, including the largest cast iron skillet I've ever seen.

I'm looking forward to spreading my wings a bit in the kitchen and learning some new dishes. When I started this blog, I had the goal of cooking or baking my way through around twenty dishes. Ultimately, I hoped to branch out in the kitchen, increase my repertoire, and introduce Nathan and myself to some new flavors and textures. This year's food challenge is similar.

2012 Food Challenge, part 2: Cook/bake/create twelve new (to me) food items.

1. A Korean dish: I'm leaving this intentionally vague, since I'm unsure what I want to learn how to cook. 

I have a Korean-American friend who's offered to teach me a few things.

2. Chinese steamed buns: the ones with the fluffy white dough, stuffed with bbq'd pork- though I'll use 

chicken.

3. A Moroccan tajine dish

4. Hot and Sour soup

5. Paneer cheese (to go in #6)

6. Saag Paneer

7. Preserved lemons (they're the new food fad, apparently!)

8. Homemade vanilla extract

9. Risotto: the only kind I've ever made is from a box, which is pathetic. I love ordering it at restaurants 

so it's high time I learn how to make my own.

10. Roasted chickpeas (they're another new food fad!)

11. Piroshki

12. unknown... any suggestions?

I'll post the third (and last) part of my food challenge soon. Let me know if you have any interesting suggestions for the twelfth new food item!

2012 Food Challenge, Part 1

I'm struggling to find my way through the haze of mommy-brain and get back into the kitchen. I miss creating. I also miss reading and learning new things. Graduate school was an intellectual challenge, and Kenya was challenging in many ways- socially, calorically, and physically. Now I'm back in the U.S. with nothing on my plate besides raising a tiny, quirky, adorable baby who hates sleeping and who is just starting to eye our dinner plates with curiosity, and (dare I hope) enthusiasm.

I need to get back in the kitchen, both literally and metaphorically.

I've got a list of food-related goals for 2012. Well, three lists, actually. I'm sharing the first list today in the hopes that putting it out there will further inspire my sleep-deprived self to be challenged both in and out of the kitchen.

2012 Food Challenge, Part 1:  Read twelve food-related books. 

I am a voracious reader. I love reading. On one of our first international trips together, Nathan was astounded by the pile of books I planned to bring and read (I think I brought 8 or 9 books for a three-week trip.) I assured him that I'd finish them, and I did, and I even foraged around the hostel's bookshelves for more. However, something about having a new baby means that I have less time for reading. That's not to say that I have NO time for reading; I don't make particularly great use of his nap times.

So, I've come up with a list of books that I'd love to dive into this year. My goal is to read all twelve (and substitutions are totally allowed- I've only picked 11 books so far, and the list is subject to change) and review them. They're a mixture of cookbooks, food memoirs, and food-related fiction and non-fiction. I also plan to cook at least one dish inspired by each book and blog about that.

Here are the books:

1. Super Natural Cooking, Heidi Swanson
2. The Greens Cookbook, Deborah Madison
3. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, Ree Drummond
4. The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters
5. Baking Cakes in Kigali, Gaile Parkin
6. The Flavor Bible, Page and Dornenburg
7. Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer
8. Smitten Kitchen cookbook, Deb Perelman
9. The Gastronomy of Marriage, Michelle Maisto
10. Trail of Crumbs, Kim Sunee
11. The Sweet Life in Paris, David Lebovitz
12. (unknown- any suggestions?)

I'll be back later this week with Parts Two and Three of my 2012 Food Challenge. Let me know if you've read any great food-related books lately!