Lunch from the garden

Marco and I decided to make Portobello mushroom sandwiches for our lunch project.

First we started out with homemade rosemary bread. I followed the same steps as the previous blog post but added in rosemary while keening the dough.

Marco went to the farmers market on Wednesday and picked up some Portobello mushrooms. They were marinated over night and roasted Friday morning.

We collected a wide selection of lettuces from the garden as well as some arugula from our plot and green onions Thursday afternoon.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

- Large Portobello mushrooms

- Olive Oil

- Balsamic Vinegar

- Mixed lettuces, arugula and green onion

Directions:

Wash the mushrooms and cut off the stem. Cut the cap of the mushroom into 5 to 6 long slices. Coat in olive oil and balsamic vinegar ( 2 parts olive oil, 1 part vinegar). Toss mushrooms around in the oil and vinegar to coat evenly. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Roast the mushrooms in oven at 350 F for 6 to 7 minutes. You want the mushrooms to have a soft tender consistency. This can be checked by poking a fork through the mushroom, if the fork can penetrate the mushroom easily, then it's ready.

Place the roasted mushroom on toasted bread. Top with lettuce and arugula mix. Drizzle with olive oil. Can be served hot or cold.

Enjoy!

Stir fry from the garden

I made a stir fry with the chard I got from the garden. It was the first time I had chard and I must say it tasted better than I thought it would be. There was onions, chicken and red bell pepper.

Not much was added except olive oil, garlic and soy sauce.

I ate it with steamed rice and some garlic bread.

Bread Noobie

Last Tuesday I made bread from scratch. It was my first and second time making bread, I made two loafs. To state you need the basic ingredients:

Flour

Dry Yeast

Salt

Honey, can use sugar instead

Some eggs.

For fancier breads you can add herbs or other ingredients.

For normal white bread you must activate the yeast in ¼ cup of warm water and a teaspoon of honey or sugar. My first attempt of making bread I did wait, and the recipe I followed stated I needed more flour. I panicked so I added more water. DON’T PANIC because I added extra water the bread in the end tasted dry and very much like there was too much flour, so for the first timers out there just be calm and follow the recipe through.

Once the yeast is activated add a teaspoon of salt and slowly add ¼ cup of flour at a time. Mix well until the mixture is not sticky but not dry. There should still be some dampness to the dough. During this step you may add an egg if you like.

Now move the dough to the smooth counter top. Spread some flour on the counter so the bread doesn’t stick. Knead the dough for a good 10-15 minutes. Kneading for those that don’t know is simply flatting the dough to an oval shape, fold it towards you and then using the palm of you hand push the dough away from you. Once you have done that rotate it and repeat. The next step is to simply let is sit in a bowl for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Now that you have finished waiting you should preheat the oven. I did mine at 350 but you should double check for yours. The first attempt I did 375 for about 45 minutes, the bread was a bit burned on the bottom and a bit undone in the center so I adjusted it to 350 for about an hour the second time.

Deflate the dough, and while the oven is preheating knead the dough until the oven is ready. Place the dough in the oven. You can check if it is done by knocking on the bread, it should make a hallow sound.

Hold on before enjoying the fruits of your labor, set the bread on a cooling rack until it is cool on the outside, a cool is rack would be nice but if that’s not available try putting it an upside down plate or bowl so there’s the least amount of surface touching the bread.

The last step…you eat it .

Project Management

The first and second week of my internship I worked on evacuation maps and object specifications. So far it seems similar to studio, since both the maps and specifications start out with documentation. I had to make evacuation maps for Fromm hall. The object specifications were to create a folder that contained all dimensions of exterior objects on campus such as benches, poles and bike racks. So far it’s not too slow not too fast. There’s always something to do, scanning documents, looking up drawings, inspecting on of works in progress.

Corn Beef Hash

Corn beef hash is a simple recipe that requires

• · 2 lbs of corn beef
• · 1 large onion of your choice
• · 7-9 medium potatoes

You can add more ingredients to your liking such as bell peppers, spinach eggs and etc.

There’s a variety of ways, which you can make the corn beef. You buy it in a can from the market or make it yourself.

To make it yourself you need a pot that big enough for the corn beef and be able to fill it with water. Corn beef is brisket so naturally its very fatty so you want to render down some of the fat. Once it’s in the pot and you have added the pickling spice which consistes of

• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken 

• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds 

• 2 teaspoons black peppercorns 

• 1 teaspoon whole cloves 

• 1 teaspoon whole allspice 

• 1 teaspoon juniper berries 

• 1 teaspoon crumbled whole mace 

• 1 teaspoon dill seeds 

• 4 dried bay leaves 

• 1 small piece dried ginger

Bring the water to a boil then bring the heat down a low simmer, there should be bubbling but very small ones. Let it simmer for about 2 hours and a half. The longer it cooks the more tender it will become, but the meat must always be covered with water.

Corn beef hash is good for left over corn beef from the night before since it takes so long to cook. Once the meat is done boil another pot of water. Quarter the potatoes and boil them for a good 15mins. They should not be completely cooked since we will finish them on a skillet.

Local food

This week for ESF we had to document cooking a meal using local foods. I wanted to do something simple because I get out of work at 5pm. After a little research I found this page http://www.localfoodswheel.com/local_foods.html it lists all the local foods and what is seasonal.  I some how decided on salmon, penne with arugula, chives and pine nuts. It tasted nothing like I thought I would, not in a good way.  Maybe it was the busy week but some how I forgot to double check where my ingredients are from, I naturally assumed Trader Joe’s is local, but I realized it wasn’t when Chris pointed it out. Growing up in the city of Arcadia, which is right next to Monrovia, I have always considered food from Trader Joe’s to be local.  So essential I cooked a seasonal dish that’s California grown.        

         1 pound skinless salmon fillet

         8 ounces penne

         1/4 cup pine nuts

         2 tablespoons olive oil

         1 tablespoon lemon juice

         kosher salt

         3 cups arugula

         1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

 

         1
Baked the salmon on 375 for about 25 mins

2.
While cooking the pasta, in a large skillet, toast the pine nuts over low heat until golden, 3 minutes; transfer to a bowl. 

3.
Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the penne, salmon, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and cook until heated through, 2 minutes. Stir in the arugula and chives.

 

Everyone’s dishes looked amazing. It was great getting to know all of you. Have a great summer. 

May 6^th marked ESF’s last field trip. Time went by so fast. We enjoyed our last meal together at Zazie’s, a nice little French bistro in Cole valley. It was my first time in Cole valley. The walk there was interesting, having been in the city for three years yet there are still place unexplored. After a nice pre game and discussion with Jessica, Jessie and Silver we were late for dinner. After hearing so much about Zazie’s during the school year I finally get to see what all the hype is about. Our group of 17 sat at a long table right underneath the light well. It is a small space but it has excellent lighting. I am surprised how little the space the chiefs have to work with. Looking at the menu, I wanted the fish soup provencale. It contained snapper, mussels, salmon, swiss & rouille, what’s not to like? Ok so maybe I don’t know what rouille is but I ate all of it. So according to wikipeida rouille is a sauce that consists of olive oil, breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron and chili peppers. It is often garnished with fish or soup and it was spread on my croutons. Most often rouille is used in cuisine in the Provence which is south east tip of France. I enjoyed the soup a lot; it was some kind of squash base. The seafood was very fresh you can taste the quality and went nicely with the swiss and croutons.

Then we headed to the golden arches, I was torn between fries and ice cream but I ultimately decided on a caramel sundae. Ok so we all know MacDonald’s ice cream doesn’t have the texture of ice cream, is it because it’s made out of powder or is it even made out of dairy? So out of curiosity and lack of desire to start on my final paper I looked up the ingredients that went into making a sundae.:

Sundae, Caramel SUNDAE MIX:  Milk, Concentrated Skim Milk, Sugar, Cream, Glucose (from wheat, contains preservative sulphur dioxide), Emulsifiers (433, 471 -contains soy oil), Vegetable Gums (407, 407a, 412, 466), Colou (160b), Flavour.                                                                                                                                              

HOT CARAMEL TOPPING: Glucose Syrup (contains Sulphite), Sugar, Water, Skim Milk Powder, Butter,

Whole Milk Powder, Flavour, Acidity Regulators (339,270), Salt, Stabiliser (440).

Contains milk and soy; traces of gluten and sulphites. 

Can barely reconcize half the ingredients but it seem like there no corn, well at least no obvious form which is surprising. 

The morning before the field trip I had class in the Koret. There was a banquet being set up in the meeting room as I walked through I was tempted to get a cup of coffee but it didn’t feel right so I got a cup of water. As I was drinking this cup of water I noticed a green stripe at the base of the cup and to my delight it read MADE FROM CORN. Which means the cup that holds my sundae was probably made from corn. Who thought food could be so versatile, you can eat it, your food can eat it and it can hold your food too at the same time, amazing. After reading Michael Pollens book Omnivores Dilemma,  I have whole different out look on food and think more about where did it come from as appose to what I am going to do with it.