My Veg Table

Published December 29, 2020

Hoarding, Part 1: Honey…

Types of honey from L to R: Gem Apiaries (Lutz, FL)-wildflower; Yankee Joe’s (Warner Robbins, GA)-wildflower; Winterthur (Winterthur, DE)-golden; Italian-cherry; Home Grown in the City (San Diego, CA)-citrus

Honey, we have a problem. Some—and when I say some, I mean my husband—might say I have issues. My real issue is that I don’t have enough pantry space to house my ‘collection’. What’s really wrong with having 24+ bottles and jars of honey, anyway? Each is unique in color and in flavor; would he be as critical if he amassed 24+ bottles of fine bourbon? I should think not…

I wasn’t always such as avid collector. In fact, this sugar girl was never a big fan of honey; it had an odd taste I couldn’t get past. A decade ago, a free sample of local nectar from a farmer’s market changed my opinion of this alternative sweetener—forever. Not only did I taste one sample, but I tasted four: one for each season here in Florida. Amazingly, they each looked and tasted shockingly different; I was dumbfounded. The variations resulted from what was pollinated during each season: Fall and Winter were dark amber to brown with a more complex flavor; Spring, practically clear yellow and mild tasting; and summer, still light in color, but cloudier and a bit more flavorful than spring. If this is what a year in Florida tastes like through the ‘eyes’ of local bees, my curiosity was piqued about the varietals of honey around the country, let alone the world. What might those taste like?

Inspiration Travel

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Published July 12, 2020

A Bit of Better Butter…

Homemade butter slathered on graham crackers–one of my favorite snacks!

Deep in my memory bank, I house a poem from my youth—a tongue-twister, actually—a tongue-twister about butter. Although the name of the book escapes me, the poem was about a girl recognizing the importance of good butter. How can something made solely of cream—and sometimes salt—add such depth of flavor to so many things both sweet and savory alike? It’s pretty amazing: I can see why a poem might be composed applauding its awesomeness. Even margarine—butter’s non-dairy competitor—is barely called margarine anymore: it’s called buttery spread or buttery sticks. Because even if you can’t eat the real deal, you want your substitute to taste just like it. And what’s even better than real butter? Homemade butter!

Tidbits

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Published June 29, 2020

Leaves of Celery…

Using celery leaves as an ingredient never occurred to me before I read it on the ingredient list of my grandmother’s Thanksgiving stuffing/dressing recipe. Apparently, I was underestimating the leaves that I always discarded along with the cut white bottoms of the stalk. But, grandmas are usually right, and this was no exception: the stuffing got such a boost of freshness and celery-flavor that simply sautéeing the stalks just couldn’t provide. Think of these leaves as a substitute for parsley: hearty and slightly bitter; grassy, but not overwhelming. It’s everything I love about the flavor of celery without the crunch.

Celery leaves may be hard to track down: most grocery store-celery is sold as either the hearts—no tops— or if there are some leaves present, there are only a mere few; a farmer’s market or natural food store may be your best bet at finding them. When our COVID isolation started, I began getting weekly produce boxes from my favorite local farm and I received a surplus of celery with more leaves attached than I knew what to do with. In the interest of resourcefulness, my goal was to find other ways to use up the tops as well as the bottoms in my weekly cooking.

Inspiration

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Published May 21, 2020

A Bit of Hash…

Humble beginnings: potatoes and carrots on their way to becoming hash

When I think of hash, I am transported back to my college-day, 3am, post-clubbing haunt: Village Inn. VI’s Garden Skillet was almost always what I ordered and it was the epitome of comfort food. My very own cast iron skillet filled to the brim with potatoes, onions, veggies, gooey cheese and topped with two runny eggs. It wasn’t until many years later that I started making my own hash at home and it is still one of my favorite go-to meals.

As we are muddling our way through the COVID19 pandemic, most of our meals have been made at home—we have only ordered takeout a handful of times—which is a major change for us. When grocery store visits are being kept to a minimum and resourcefulness is on the forefront, hash is the perfect meal: it is one of the tastiest and easiest ways to clean out your fridge! And even during non-pandemic times when you find yourself just blankly staring inside the refrigerator without a clue of what to make—you know what I’m talking about: busy day, no time to shop, the kids have sports or a ton of homework, bellies are grumbling and time is ticking by the second? That’s the perfect time for hash. Potatoes and onions are the only two core items needed for this ultimate comfort food: if you’ve got those two staples, you’re golden. Start rummaging and dicing…

Tidbits

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Published May 9, 2020

Grandma’s Raisin Sauce…

I remember so vividly being in my Grandmother’s kitchen, seeing raisins soaking in a saucepan on the back burner; she was making her usual accompaniment to ham: raisin sauce. This unique sweet sauce countered the saltiness of our annual Easter ham; I could never seem to get enough of it. Inasmuch as I love to cook—and for as much as I love this sauce—you would think I would make this stuff all the time, but for some reason I never did. I always left it up to my Grandma and later, my mom.

As I was preparing a batch for our COVID Easter meal for three, I questioned why this was only the second time ever that I had made it myself? One reason is that my mother typically hosts Easter: the sauce is always simmering away on the stove by the time we arrive. The other reason is that for many years I was a vegetarian and the only thing I/we ever paired this sauce with was ham: no ham = no raisin sauce. I was determined to find out what else goes well with the sauce that I could—and do—eat by the spoonful.

Inspiration

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Published March 8, 2020

Omnivore’s Picadillo…

Picadillo with any type of meat…even vegan!

Pee-ca-DEE-yo! First of all, it’s just fun to say. Secondly, if I would’ve thought there was a way I could eat a version of the typically meat-centric Cuban cuisine back in my vegetarian days, I would have been beyond thrilled. So, years after I couldn’t eat another plate of black beans and yellow rice, I took to the kitchen…and my Omnivore’s Picadillo was born.

Inspiration

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Published February 16, 2020

My Winter Trinity…

Three simple ingredients make for a powerful concoction that can take on cold and flu symptoms.

There is something about the power of three. Many cultures have their own trinity: a combination of three ingredients that serve as the backbone for building flavor in their dishes. In Creole/Cajun cooking, the Holy Trinity is a combination of onion, celery and bell peppers. The version in French cooking is called mirepoix and is made up of onion, carrot and celery. In Spain, their sofrito is typically comprised of garlic, onions and tomato.

I have discovered my own trinity of sorts which blends my cooking world and my medical world: ginger, lemon and honey. Instead of building flavors for a dish, I’m using them to build my immune system. As we are in the throes of cold and flu season, these three ingredients are the basis for a more natural way of managing the miserable-feeling symptoms that a virus can cause.

Inspiration

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Published December 27, 2019

The Best of 2019…

Favorite pics of 2019:
(Top L-R: Tortilla Soup, Red Kuri Squash, My 1905 Salad;
Mid L-R: Green garlic, Broccoli Cashew Salad, Market veggies;
Bottom L-R: Cauliflower Tabbouleh, Chickpea, Grape Tomato & Feta Salad, Melon Gazpacho)

Well, another year is on its way out—they seem to be passing by faster and faster. So much so, that in researching back over the past year for this post, I realized I never posted a ‘Best Of’ for 2018. And beyond that, there was a gap from August 2018 – June 2019 when I didn’t post anything AT ALL! Well, it has been a busy two years with adjusting to being back to work, trying to ‘fit it all in’, and traveling more than we have in some time; it didn’t leave much time for blogging. The 2018 post is now up, and without further ado, here is 2019!

All

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Published December 26, 2019

The Best of 2018…

Favorite Pics of 2018
(Top L-R: Oatmeal Scotchies, market-fresh tomatoes, callaloo;
Mid L-R: Broccoli rabe, fresh (unbrined) olives, Morganstern’s (NYC) Avocado Ice Cream Toast;
Bottom L-R: Esquites, Dominique Ansel’s (NYC) Cronut, fresh corn)

Yes, you read that correctly: 2018; and yes…I am a year late. I really enjoy looking back over the past year and summarizing it all in a ‘farewell to the year’ post. It’s just unfortunate that I only realized now that last year’s piece never made it to print. So many amazing things happened last year, I would be remiss to not give it the proper attention it deserved. Here is 2018 in a nutshell, and then be on the lookout for my 2019 post!

All

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Published December 12, 2019

Chickpea, Grape Tomato & Feta Salad…

Tomatoes, feta, chickpeas and seasoning make for a tasty, simple salad

Eight staple ingredients. One bowl. Ten minutes. Lunch is served.

Well, technically, this salad is better after it sits for about an hour, but you get the picture. Chickpea, Grape Tomato & Feta Salad is our feature for the final week of salad month.

Inspiration

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