Nate’s sister & brother-in-law came to visit last weekend. Like all my best friends, past & present beloveds, and intrepid family members, they got the culinary royal treatment. The weekend prior I went marketing at one of Richmond’s jewels, the Saturday morning farmer’s market, and came home with this bounty:
Highlights: Assortment of red, gold, & blue potatoes from David Reed, an elderly couple, & Earlham’s Miller Farm; onions from Preston; cabbage from a good-natured Polish woman who lived through the war (& has been farming since!); two peppers from the same, purple by way of green, with a slow-glow to red; heirloom garlic from Arden Hearth; heirloom tomatoes; squashes for a tempeh dish; eggplant for roasting; carrots from David for munching; jalepenos to give curries a kick.
Peppers after a luminous week-long vacation in the windowsill:
Incidentally, I mentioned this magic to David Reed on Saturday when I picked up a couple of big green bells from him. He had no idea! The ones he sold me for sixty cents apiece are slowly turning a lovely orange in the same spot.
Friday night I made baked tofu with sesame flavors, new potatoes in a wasabi creme gravy, peanut noodles, and edamame & fresh corn in radicchio. Tofu pressed for well over an hour + three days worth of marinating = intense saturation of flavor.
Saturday lunch was pineapple & onion burritos from La Mexicana, but that night was special. I had made fresh seitan a few days prior and whipped it out for a caribbean jerk recipe. Served with mashed roasted sweet potatoes (soymilk + earth balance + maple syrup + salt), and sweet-and-sour kale, a rhapsody in flavor:
Quite happily, this meal reminded me of one I shared with an aforementioned beloved at Calabash Vegetarian Kitchen in Atlanta. Success!
Lazy Sunday morning? Brunch! Doesn’t it look like these fluffy orange scones, studded with organic zest & dressed in a home-made citrus glaze, are about to levitate from the plate? Divinity!
The main course was asparagus & sun-dried tomato frittata, one of my favorite recipes from Vegan With a Vengeance (from whence the scone recipe comes, too!), and a sad attempt at hashbrowns. Clearly my line-cook days are too far behind me… I just couldn’t get ‘em crispy enough. Oh well, I’m not crying over one miss among so many successes! Especially when we just smothered ‘em ketchup.
Note: The scones also take a while (setting time for the glaze), but if you own Vegan With a Vengeance you’d be a fool not to try them. However! The recipe is wrong, wrong, wrong when it comes to the amount of flour you’ll need to use. Isa says 3 cups of all-purpose flour, but the dough didn’t reach the right consistency til I’d added around four cups. And when it says soy creme, you really can just use soymilk.
I hope Nate’s fam felt extra-special loved. As with Ayurvedic cooks, I deeply believe that one’s goodwill is transmitted through food during the cooking process. And while my kitchen certainly isn’t ritually clean, the intent is there. I’ve joked that cooking is the only thing I get “right”… not because of special skill or years of practice, but because from mincing to garnishing, I’m thinking about how much I like the person I’m feeding. May you be blessed with the same treatment!
I’m drooling! this looks positively Yum-tastic! I don’t suppose you can turn all green peppers red in a windowsill huh?
Great post! Makes me hungry. Two thoughts for ya:
Hash browns – I’ve been trying for quite some time to get these right. My best attempts have involved shredding the potatoes, rinsing them thoroughly, then drying them as much as possible on towels (paper or cloth) before they head to the skillet with some oil. Once they’re in, let them sit until they are completely done on one side then try to flip them in sections. While they don’t always turn out perfect, this method has made me much closer to consistent.
Also, regarding your scones and flour, I’ve been fighting the humidity all summer with my bread baking, often having to add up to an additional cup of flour. Maybe it was just really humid that day? Or is this always a problem with that recipe?
Happy cooking! (And eating!)
Thanks so much for the hashbrown tips. I shredded them in my food processor and fried them in a bit of oil, turning in sections, just as you suggested. However, I was in huge rush and did not take the time to dry the hashbrowns well. I am going to take your advice and rinse and dry next time. The pan was also crowded (I know, a top no-no), so I’ll try to do batches. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Your flour comment is intriguing–I had no idea that humidity could affect recipes like that. (You see, I am quite a novice when it comes to baking.) Please say more!
You rock! We felt like pampered celebrities with a personal chef for the weekend. Thanks for all your creativity, care and kitchen time.
We bought Vegan with a Vengeance so those scones shall soon be ours again!
Thanks again!