Gardening tip: Cultivating spaghetti squash

It’s not quite the right time of year to begin planting a new vegetable garden, but now is a good time to start the planning process. Some vegetables should be planted earlier than others in order to capitalize on the entire growing season and spaghetti squash definitely falls into this category. However, knowing exactly when to put your squash seedling into the ground boils down to guessing and finger crossing.

Frost kills squash no matter the season; waiting to plant until no chance of frost remains in the spring is the only way to cultivate a proper squash garden.  In the same vein, plucking your squash from the garden before even one night of frost rolls through in the fall or winter is absolutely vital. 

Not quite ripe enough

 Spaghetti squash will ripen best on the vine and my advice is to let the vine die completely or until the chance of frost arises. If you must harvest earlier than you'd like, make sure to leave 6-10 inches of vine attached the to squash when you bring it indoors. A bright yellow squash devoid of any lingering green spots on a deceased vine will produce the tastiest “noodles.”

Once your squash is fully ripened, creating “noodles” is easy. My favorite way to cook the squash is to bake it in water. Here’s my recipe:

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Thoroughly wash squash and cut off as much stem as possible. Safely cut the squash in half lengthwise, using a large, sharp knife. With a spoon, scrape all of the seeds and seed mush out of the squash halves, leaving the meaty interior intact.

Fill a large baking tray with about 2-3 inches of water, depending on the size of your squash. Place the squash halves with skins facing up (meaty interior facing down) in the baking tray. Bake for 35-55 minutes at 400 degrees, depending on the size of your squash.

Grab a fork and slide the prongs into the meaty interior, pulling lengthwise to create “noodles.” The squash is ready if the skin bends when pressed gently and the meaty interior can easily be scraped into “noodles” with a fork. If you prefer softer pasta, cook the squash slightly longer. Otherwise, it has a natural ‘al dente’ texture. 

What I like this week: Bird watching!

Ok so we all know it hasn’t rained in way too long. The consequences for the environment and for our quality of life for the rest of the year could be dire.  The only silver lining in this situation is gorgeous, sunny weather in January. So since we can’t fix the climate issues overnight, let’s enjoy the sunny side effects of global climate change. I’m thankful this weather has allowed me to pursue some amateur nature photography. Please enjoy!

All images copyright Keri Heldt. All taken in Sacramento, CA. 

Broth, the un-boring version

If you have a recipe that calls for broth this season – and most of us do – plan ahead and create your own broth from scratch instead of opting for the store-bought variety.

The best broth recipe I have ever executed calls for tamari, a variety of soy sauce that is richer and naturally fermented, but standard soy sauce will suffice. I do not recommend using the reduced sodium version and if you can find tamari, it adds a level of depth that soy sauce can’t add. Whole Foods carries several brands of tamari and I can occasionally find it at Safeway, Bel Air or Savemart. 

 

 

Pre-broth veggies

Boiling broth, squeezing flavor out of the veggies

Ready-to-use broth, shimmering!

Best vegetarian broth

Adapted from Robin Robertson’s cookbook, Quick Fix Vegetarian

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 onions coarsely chopped

4 unbleached carrots, coarsely chopped

3 potatoes, quartered

4 celery ribs, including leaves, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

12 cups water

2 tablespoons tamari (a variety of soy sauce that is richer and naturally fermented)

1 ½ cups coarsely chopped fresh parsley

2 bay leaves

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper or whole peppercorns

Scrub all vegetables thoroughly, preferably with a vegetable brush. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrots, potatoes, onions, celery and garlic. Cover and cook until slightly softened, about 5-10 minutes. Add the water, tamari or soy sauce, parsley, bay leaves, salt and pepper or peppercorns. Bring to a boil then decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 60 to 75 minutes.

Strain the liquid through a mesh sieve into another pot, pressing the liquid of out of the vegetables with a large wooden spoon. The broth is now ready to use. For stronger broth, bring the broth back to a boil, and reduce the volume by ¼.

Yields at least 8 cups. Refrigerated broth will keep for 4-7 days and portioned containers of broth will last in the freezer for 3-4 months.

Hanukkah recipe: Leek and Potato Latkes

A twist on classic latkes, a perfect way to start any Hanukkah celebration!

Like chives on steroids, leeks are packed with flavor and a good source of folic acid and vitamin A. This recipe highlights the unique taste of leeks and the hearty earthiness of potatoes. Enjoy!

Leek and Potato Latkes recipe link

Gorgeous leeks I received in my biweekly farm box delivery

Latkes frying, yum!

Finished latkes topped with sour cream

What I like this week - Asian Markets!

Step out of your grocery store comfort zone and explore an Asian market for a change of scenery. I explored one last Saturday and my favorite steals were insanely cheap bottles of Pad Thai sauce, Sriracha and other delectable Asian sauces.

 If you’re looking for any exotic species of seafood, an Asian market might be your cheapest and best bet, especially for extremely hard to find items. Buyer beware, however, that most of these fishy wonders are imported from other countries where environmental and quality control standards are not as strict as the USA. Pay attention to the labels and when in doubt, just don’t buy it!

Follow me on a photo tour….

All photos taken at SF Market on Florin Road in Sacramento.

Thanksgiving Menu - Tips, Tweaks & Tricks

Even without turkey, our Thanksgiving meal was memorable and delicious!! Here is my recap of the day along with advice for executing the menu.

As a special treat, my fiancé brought home some smoked salmon and caviar for us to enjoy while cooking all day. We put the smoked salmon to use at breakfast time with a layered sandwich of cream cheese, smoked salmon, egg, basil, salt & pepper. We also enjoyed hot coffee with pumpkin spice cream.

While we were cooking, we snacked on water crackers covered in caviar, smoked salmon, sour cream, shredded cheddar, hardboiled egg and sriracha. We experimented with adding capers and different hot sauces – we got progressively more creative as the day continued.

These guys couldn’t help but pout and beg once the smells started wafting out of the kitchen.

The main menu


 Appetizers

-Scallop Gratin 

Overall: Excellent, easy to execute recipe bursting with fresh flavor.

Tip: I used too much wine – the recipe only calls for one tablespoon and I was a little more generous. Definitely stick to one tablespoon and make sure the wine is dry!

Tweak: Use more panko bread crumbs than the recipe suggests; ½ cup just doesn’t cut it. I would use a full cup.

-Cream of Pumpkin Soup topped with Curried Pecans

Overall: I’ve made this recipe many times and it always turns out warm, satisfying and hearty.

Tips: I highly recommend making your own vegetable broth instead of using store-bought. I use the recipe from Quick-Fix Vegetarian but you can use any recipe that you like. An immersion blender works best for this recipe, takes less time than transferring to a food processor and immersion blenders cost much, much less than any food processor.

Tweaks: If you’re not a devout lover of curry, cut back on the amount of curry powder you put in this recipe. I always use about 75% of what the recipe calls for. Also, use at least one full yellow onion, not just ¼ cup of chopped onion, for the best flavor.

Trick: Add cayenne pepper along with salt and black pepper for a deeper flavor profile.

-Warm Brie with Honeyed Raspberries and Almonds

Overall: Absolutely mouth-watering, rich, delectable Brie recipe. A go-to holiday, crowd-pleasing dish.

Tip: The raspberries will create A LOT of juice, so be sure that your serving tray is sufficiently large to contain all the juices, honey and melted Brie.

Side Dishes

-Mushroom Stuffing with Shallots and Fresh Herbs

Overall: Amazingly moist, succulent, flavorful, easy to make stuffing. My favorite dish of the day.

Tip: As I said above, I highly recommend making your own vegetable broth to incorporate into this dish as well. The flavors will be much deeper and richer.

Tweak: Button mushrooms were not enough for me – I added Chanterelles and oyster mushrooms. The extra mushrooms soaked in more moisture and pumped out even earthier flavor.

Tricks: Definitely leave your breadcrumbs out on baking sheets overnight instead of baking them. Baking them will dry them out too much.

-Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Overall: Easy recipe, but I had to make several changes to get the best flavor and crispiness.

Tip: I suggest baking the Brussels sprouts at 400 degrees for at least 20 minutes. 350 degrees simply isn’t hot enough to get the salty char.

Tweaks: I added carrots and coarsely chopped red bell pepper, which added color and sweet, delicious flavors. Both of these additional veggies can handle a good char, like the sprouts.

Trick: If you have a brick pizza cooker, use it! It will work even better than a roasting pan.  

-Sweet Potato Casserole

Overall: Probably the best sweet potato casserole I’ve ever made.

Tips: Fully mash the sweet potatoes to ensure the sweet, nutty flavors are mixed throughout the dish. I would recommend using canned sweet potatoes as they are easier to break down.

Tweak: Be generous with the crushed cornflakes, they add wonderful texture. Use slightly more mini marshmallows than the recipe calls for.

-Garlic Mashed Cauliflower (carbless mashed "potatoes")

Overall: Creamy, tasty alternative to mashed potatoes

Tip: For a bit of texture, I added some crumbled soy bacon. Of course if you are a meat-eater, add some crumbled thick-cut bacon.

Trick: Make sure the cauliflower is as hot as you can handle when you begin to mix it with the cheeses, otherwise it won’t blend to the correct consistency.

-Spinach salad with toasted almonds, dried cranberries & feta cheese

Overall: Straightforward, adaptable salad

Tip: Mix everything but the dressing so your leftovers don’t get soggy.

Tweak: Add avocado for an extra buttery salad.

Main Course

-Baked Coho Salmon

Due to a lack of availabiltiy of fresh lobster tails, we opted for sustainable Coho salmon instead. Using the Seafood Watch app on my iPhone, we selected this particular kind of salmon because it makes less of an impact on the environment. We slathered two filets in lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper then broiled them for about 15 minutes. The filets came out flaky, moist and full of flavor. We happily paired it with the 2009 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon.