Black Radish Quick Pickle

 

 Scrub two or three medium black radishes, rinse and pat dry. Cut radishes into matchsticks. Toss well with freshly minced garlic, juice from one lemon and sea salt to taste. Let sit in a bowl for a few hours; stir once or twice. Garnish with lemon peel or zest; toss and enjoy!  Store in a glass jar in fridge. 

Meditation on a Black Radish

Black Radish

The black radish, with its rough thick outer shell and pure white pungent bitter interior, is the dark horse of the radish universe. Cultivated by farmers since the days of ancient Egypt, Raphanis sativus var. sativus tolerates extremes of climate, grows to a generous size and contains considerable quantities of vitamin C.

 I am told that the black radish, which stores very well, was a staple food for my Eastern European ancestors during long cold winters when few fresh vegetables were available. It was peeled and sliced and eaten with raw onion, salt and heavy dark sourdough rye bread. In France it is known as "Gros noir d'hiver",  or "large black of winter".



                                             black radish
                                             your rhino hide shell
                                             protects a bitter snowy core
                                             from which the lovely
                                             green shoots spring

A Winter Restorative: Root Broth

This season of excessive consumption, activity and stimulation creates a need for counter- balancing austerity. Root broth, a fortifying Winter restorative, is a satisfying response. Both the making and the drinking are effective antidotes to the restless chatter of our universe.

The broth is prepared by simmering a selection of roots in water until tender. Humans have cooked this way under very primitive conditions for millennia, ever since they tamed fire and created ceramic vessels. This simple non-recipe produces a warming and intensely flavorful clear broth, replete with valuable nutrients. Select any combination of the following ingredients- whatever is available will be suitable.

Ingredients:

carrots
turnips
white radish
purple radish
parsnip
ginger root
leek
garlic cloves
dried shiitake mushrooms
bay leaves
fresh water
sea salt to taste

Method:

Scrub and trim root vegetables and cut into medium sized pieces. Peel the garlic cloves but leave whole. Shiitake mushrooms are also left whole.

Place vegetables and bay leaves in a soup pot. Add fresh water, enough to cover the vegetables by one or two inches.

Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over a low flame, adding more water if level gets too low. Simmer until vegetables are tender but not mushy.  (Longer cooking is fine but will yield a thicker broth).  Turn off heat. Remove the mushrooms and when cool enough to handle, slice and return to broth. Taste and add sea salt as desired. Serve in a pre-heated bowl so that broth stays warm.

Living in Harmony With the Atmosphere of Winter:


"The three months of Winter are called the period of closing and storing. Water freezes and the Earth cracks open. One should not disturb one's Yang. People should retire early at night and rise late in the morning and they should wait for the rising of the sun. They should suppress and conceal their wishes, as though they had no internal purposes, as though they had been fulfilled. 
 People should try to escape the cold and they should seek warmth. They should not perspire upon the skin, and they should let themselves be deprived of the breath of the cold. All this is in harmony with the atmosphere of Winter and all this is the method for protection of one's storing."

-- From the Nei Jing, The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (circa 206 BCE-220 CE)

Wakame + Watermelon Radish = A Super Salad

This is a dish to create when time is plentiful and distractions are few. It involves some meditative chopping, slicing and a little toasting, all of which can be done ahead of time. The sweet, sour and spicy flavors of the salad are enhanced if it is allowed to rest for a few hours or even a day before serving. Yield: About four portions, but if you really love sea vegetables, you might want to double the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 ounce dried wakame sea vegetable*
4 medium watermelon radishes
3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
fresh juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon hot pepper sesame oil 
1/4 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
3- 4 tablespoons sesame seeds, freshly toasted

 
Method:

Rehydrate wakame by placing it in a bowl with enough cool water to cover. Let it rest for about five minutes, then drain and squeeze out excess water with your hands. Using a sharp knife and clean cutting board,  slice the wakame into thin strips. The tough center ribs of the plant can be set aside for later use in soup, or simply slice them very fine and use in the salad.

Scrub and trim radishes.

Slice radishes into rounds.

Julienne rounds into matchsticks.

Toast sesame seeds in a heavy skillet until just fragrant, then pour into a ceramic plate to cool.

Combine vinegar, lemon juice, maple syrup, sesame oil and sea salt in a bowl and whisk together briefly. Add the sliced wakame and radish and toss gently to coat the vegetables. Sprinkle with about half the toasted sesame seeds, reserving the remainder to use as a garnish at the table. Salad will keep well in a clean glass container for up to three days.

* Wakame sea vegetable is sold dried, often in one ounce packages. 

Variation: Add one good quality crisp apple, sliced into matchsticks. 

Must be the Season of the Root!

Long before the era of Pop Tarts, Cocoa Puffs, Twinkies and Big Macs, our ancestors lived exclusively on wild food which they gathered and hunted. Anthropologists state that the average gatherer/ hunter walked five to seven miles daily in search of food. Depending on climate, season and geography, roots, leaves, berries, nuts and seeds were among the main sources of nutrients. Wild animals, fish and insects supplemented forager's diets.

For the majority of human existence we grew no grain, raised no meat, milked no cows. Our food had no labels, packaging or advertising campaigns. At times food was scarce, at times it was abundant. Our daily occupation was to find enough to eat. Somehow our species succeeded in feeding itself well enough through the millenia to reproduce and survive without benefit of a single manufactured food product.

The first rains have begun to fall on Northern California and the produce landscape at farmer's markets has undergone a dramatic shift. Roots and tubers are everywhere; hairy, bumpy, lumpy and decorated with dirt from the fields.  

Often overlooked and under appreciated, roots are nutritious, affordable and simple to prepare. Most roots can be baked, steamed, roasted or stewed; just scrub and apply some sort of heat until tender. Roast a selection of cut up roots in a baking dish, or mash steamed roots with a little sea salt, olive oil and herbs for a delicious meal.  Create flavorful, healthy soup by simmering beets with carrots, celery and onion.

When shopping for roots and tubers, look for those which are organically grown. Specimens without breaks in the skin are preferable but superficial blemishes will not affect quality. Not all roots are beautiful, but they have sustained human life for generations. Winter is the ideal season to return to our roots!

When is a potato not a potato?

When is a potato not a potato? When it's hyperprocessed into a package of Idahoan Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes.

Idahoan holds a dominant position in the world of processed potato products and they occupy prime placement on supermarket shelves. One of its popular creations is a line of flavored instant mashed potatoes such as "Four Cheese" "Roasted Garlic" "Loaded Baked" "Smoked Bacon"  and "Buttery Homestyle".

Serious attention has been devoted to Idahoan's packaging which is designed to appeal to the consumer on multiple levels at first glance. "Buttery Homestyle" sports a rich gold foil and red label, retro engraving of a farmer in his field and appetizing image of creamy mashed potatoes. The words "homemade", "homestyle" and "buttery" are prominently displayed.  The word "Idahoan" and the blue ribbon inscribed with "America's Favorite Mashed Potato" drive home the message of wholesomeness and stimulate nostalgia for a classic American comfort food which many associate with childhood and family.

Perhaps the nice folks at Idahoan, who have been in the dehydrated potato business since 1960,  are betting that most shoppers will not turn over the package to examine its ingredients panel. Those who do will discover that the product is not a sweet vision of homestyle goodness, rather it is an unpleasant dream brought to you by industrial food science.
   

The first four ingredients-  potatoes, vegetable oil, corn syrup and salt - are a formula the food industry has carefully developed, knowing that fat, salt and sugar are irresistible to most humans. Following these is a long list of multi-syllabic ingredients,  most of which do not spring from the green fields of the Idaho farmer but have been developed in laboratories by food industry chemists to enhance flavor, appearance and shelf life.

The really bad news comes into focus in the Nutrition Facts box, required by law to show the nutrition breakdown per single serving, which Idahoan defines as 1/2 cup. Unrealistically small serving sizes are a ubiquitous device used in food industry nutrition labels to confuse consumers and obscure the facts about what they are really eating.  It is unlikely that the average person will limit their intake to just 1/2 cup.

What cannot be hidden is the fact that one small serving contains 440 milligrams of sodium; some of the other Idahoan mashed potato flavors contain close to 600 mg per serving.  The American Heart Association recommends sodium intake of 1500 mg or less daily,  but has found that the average American, including children over the age of two, now consumes 3400 mg of sodium daily. Excess sodium intake is linked to high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease, major causes of illness and mortality in the U.S.

Fortunately, no one must rely on a fancy foil package of processed potatoes in order to enjoy a delicious potato dish. Flavorful, organic potatoes are in season now and available in farmer's markets at much lower prices per pound than the hyperprocessed instant. 

Select small potatoes like Yukon Gold or Fingerling; they can be steamed in minutes in simmering water.  Once tender, drain potatoes and serve whole. Sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil and sea salt and enjoy a simple, nutritious meal straight from the earth.  That old time farmer in his potato field will thank you.

Japanese Sweet Potato Rice: Imo Gohan

Every year in the heart of winter, a few weeks after the New Year when the mornings are still very dark and the days are chilly, a small thought begins to ring persistently in my head like a distant bell. Eventually I realize that it is the bell of imo gohan, announcing that it's time to make a pot of this rustic Japanese sweet potato and rice dish, one of my winter favorites.

Japanese sweet potato, like the American sweet potato, does not look like much on the outside. It has a dull pinkish purple skin. When cooked, it is creamy yellow inside, pleasantly but not cloyingly sweet, and tastes something like a chestnut. This is the sweet potato for those who've never cared for the ultra sweet American variety.

Imo gohan  is a one pot meal, very simple to make. It's best to plump the brown rice first by soaking it over night or for about six hours, which will shorten the cooking time.  Rice, water and sweet potato then go into the pot together and are cooked for about one hour.  The addition of black or "forbidden" rice is optional, but it does add pleasing texture and color to the dish.

Imo Gohan:

2 cups short grain brown rice, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
1 handful black rice (optional)
4 cups fresh water
2 medium Japanese sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon sea salt
toasted sesame seed garnish (gomasio) or tamari sauce


Place rice in a heavy pot with water and sea salt. Arrange sweet potato pieces on top of the rice. It's ok if the potatoes are not entirely covered in water.

Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer on a low light for at least one hour. Place a flame tamer under the pot to prevent scorching. When rice is tender, turn off heat, fluff gently without mashing the sweet potatoes and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Imo gohan  is delicious sprinkled with gomasio or a little tamari sauce to taste. Serve in a pre-heated bowl. It is best enjoyed while studying the poems of Basho or contemplating the coming of spring and the Lunar New Year.

For more about Japanese Sweet Potato see post titled "Japanese Sweet Potato/ Satsuma Imo".
For gomasio recipe see post titled "Gomasio/ Sesame Seed Condiment".

Wild Watercress & Potato Salad

On a recent unseasonably warm spring morning in the City by the Bay, I made a quick stop at the neighborhood ATM, then headed to my local watercress patch to gather greens for dinner. The fact that the ATM and the watercress exist only minutes from each other gives me particular pleasure, as does the act of foraging for wild food in a hidden green oasis in the middle of this high-tech city.

Watercress (nasturtium officinale) is a highly nutritious semi- aquatic plant which was one of the earliest leafy greens eaten by humans. It grows prolifically in the wild in fresh water streams and is now cultivated for commercial use. Watercress has recently gained a reputation as a "super food" high in anti- oxidants and a wide range of vitamins and minerals. If you gather your own watercress, make sure to wash it very thoroughly before eating.

In hot weather, this salad makes a healthy light meal which can be prepared ahead of time in the cool hours of the day. If there's no watercress available, arugula will work just as well. Steam a pot of small Yukon Gold or other thin skinned potatoes and set aside to cool until you're ready to assemble the salad, which takes only a few minutes. This recipe makes about 2 servings, depending on the size of the potatoes.


5 or 6 small Yukon Gold potatoes, steamed, peeled, & quartered
1 medium bunch fresh watercress or arugula, roughly chopped
1 0r 2 tablespoons leek or green onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 2 or more lemons or limes
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss lightly. Taste and correct seasoning, adding more lemon/ lime juice or sea salt if needed. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Japanese Sweet Potato / Satsuma- Imo

My introduction to the Japanese sweet potato (satsuma- imo) occurred accidentally, when I brought home a bag of dusty pinkish skinned sweet potatoes from the market. After scrubbing and simmering the tubers until tender, I cut one open and was startled to discover that its flesh was a pale yellow-ivory color, when I was expecting a bright orange interior. If the color was a surprise, its flavor was even more of a revelation. Less sweet than a standard sweet potato, the Japanese tuber is slightly firmer and dryer, and has a subtle delicious chestnut flavor. Since that fortuitous discovery, the Japanese sweet potato has become a staple in my pantry and the basis for many quick nutritious meals and snacks.

To prepare, scrub sweet potatoes in warm water, rinse, and place in one layer in a soup pot. Add enough fresh water to almost cover the potatoes. Place lid on pot and bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer gently until tender but not mushy, which may take about 45 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. When done, remove from pot and cool a bit before serving (or sampling!) to allow the natural sugars in the potatoes to develop. Cooked sweet potatoes store well for up to a week in the fridge and make great portable instant snacks.

There are infinite ways to serve Japanese sweet potatoes, but their natural deliciousness requires little additional preparation. For a quick meal, steam or stir fry your favorite leafy greens. Slice a few cooked potatoes into rounds or chunks ( the skins will come off as you cut them) and serve on a bed of warm greens; season with a little tamari sauce to taste.

Steamed Yukon Gold Potatoes

Steaming is a simple, quick method for preparing Yukon Gold potatoes which preserves their excellent flavor and nutrients. Place one layer of potatoes ( Yellow Finn, Purple Peruvian, or Bintje are also great varieties for steaming) in a wide pot with a lid. Add just enough fresh water to cover.

Bring to a simmer, lower heat, and continue to steam gently for about twenty minutes; then test a potato with a chopstick or fork. It should be tender but not mushy. (Length of cooking time will depend on the size of the potatoes, which is why I prefer to buy smaller ones).

When potatoes are done, remove from pan. It's easy to peel the potatoes when cool enough to handle; those which are not for immediate use may be left unpeeled and stored in the fridge to be added to salads, soups, or as instant snacks.

One of my favorite ways to serve steamed potatoes is to cut them into halves or quarters and serve with a mound of freshly cooked leafy greens such as spinach or arugula. Arrange steamed greens in a pre-heated shallow ceramic bowl, surround with potato pieces, sprinkle with a little olive oil , sea salt and if available, some fresh or dried herbs like marjoram, oregano, or basil. Serve immediately.