Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Beef Stew

This is my mother's recipe. I've varied it by adding cayenne pepper.

Ingredients:
2-3 cups water
1 pound beef sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup carrots, sliced, 1-inch
1/2 cup potatoes, sliced, 1-inch
1/2 cup celery, sliced 1-inch
1/4 cup leeks, sliced
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2 of one onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 boullion cubes
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:
In a pan cook beef, onion, garlic with olive oil.
Bring water to a boil in a large pot.
Once boiled add carrots and potatoes. Cook for half an hour.
Add celery, leeks, mushrooms into the pot and cook for another 15 minutes.
Add meat, onions, garlic, mushrooms, red wine bay leaves, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and boullion cubes to the pot. Close with a lid and cook for an hour.
The longer you cook the stew, the tender it gets. Don't cook for over 2 1/2 hours.

Warm Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
2-3 cups spinach, washed
2 oz. goat cheese
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes or sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup mushrooms, cut length wise
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Procedure:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and saute garlic for one minute. Add spinach and mushrooms. Cook until spinach has just wilted.

In a separate saute pan sautée tomatoes remaning oil, salt and balsamic vinegar for about 2 minutes, just until the skin of the tomatoes starts to shrivel.

Combine the spinach and tomatoes on a plate.

Add dried cranberries and goat cheese.

Drizzel remaining olive oil over salad.

Season with salt and pepper.

Peach Roasted Chicken

I came up with this recipe after buying peaches from the farmers market.

Ingredients:
5 peaches
2 lemons
3 clove of garlic
3 chicken breasts, skinless
1/4 cup olive oil
fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons pepper

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut 2 slits into each chicken breast. Cut the cloves of garlic in half. Place one half of the garlic into each chicken breast slit. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a baking dish. Cut the peaches into quarter slices. Place the peaches all around the chicken. Pour the olive oil over both the chicken and peaches. Sprinkle fresh rosemary over the dish.

Cook for half an hour. Serve with a fresh farmers market green salad.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Puree

This recipe I had on my previous blog that is one of my favorites so I want to feature it agian. It is perfect for the fall season, when pumpkins are in season. No more canned pumpkin mix for those holiday pies! This puree can also be used in muffins, breads, or soups.

Ingredients:
One 3-4 lb Sugar pumpkin, seeded and sliced into 2-inch wedges
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon each:
ground nutmeg
ground cinnamon
ground cloves

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Arrange pumpkin wedges on baking sheet, skin side down, and bake until tender enough to pierce with a fork, appx. 45- 60 min.

Wait until cool enough to handle. Remove skin from pumpkin. Place wedges, sugar, and spices into blender or Cuisinart. Puree until smooth.

Why I love the Farmers Market

I have always loved the Farmers Market every since I was a kid. In college for a class project a classmate and I embarked on creating a NYU Greenmarket Cookbook. The intention was for other students to contribute to the recipes and add their ideas. We tried various ways to get students involved through flyers, list serves and promotion, but sadly it didn't take off. I hope through this blog to bring more recipe ideas with information about sustainability.

Here are my numerous reasons for why I love the farmers market.
-Firstly, it brings in all the senses. The bright colors, the smell of different fruits, the tactile experience of picking the ripeness of produce, and of course the fresh taste are the main reason I am lured to the farmers market every weekend.
-Being exposed to different foods. I always end up trying a new or hybrid fruit that I’d never seen or heard of before, for example the red plum which is tartier than a regular plum is my newest find and favorite.
-I like being able to pick and choose the type of peach I want from different vendors instead of being given one choice at a super market. Basically, I like being able to have a choice.
-It reminds me of when I visit my grandparents in the south of France, where going to the "marché" is a daily occurrence, and all food is eaten is as fresh as possible. Farmers markets here bring back that nostalgic feelings for my family.
-There's a sense of community and friendship at the farmers market. It's easy to build a rapport with vendors and ask about their produce and products or for recipe ideas and cooking tips. The same can't be said of cashiers at grocery stores.
-The San Francisco Farmers Markets are superb. I’m lucky to have lived in cities (SF and NYC) that have such accessible and beautiful farmers markets. They are abundant in variety and almost feel gourmet, especially the Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco and the Union Square Greenmarket in NY. And since the Bay Area weather is temperate it is easy to get most types of produce all year round. Furthermore, I also love to cook the Californian way which is to incorporate fresh and seasonal foods, which is easy to do when shopping at the farmers markets.
-It's healthy! If you eat a diet that incorporates plenty of seasonal and varied vegetables and fruits from the farmers market you are sure to be getting all the vitamins and minerals you need. And, since the produce is fresh, it retains its' nutrient contain longer than produce that has been sitting in trucks and cases in order to end up in your grocery store.
-It's local! Purchasing farmers market foods supports the vendors and farmers who grown their produce locally. It helps keep the farmers business going and supports the land's ability to produce food around us.

About Sustainable Nutrition

Hello everyone, to give you some information about myself I am a dietetic intern currently interning at Project Open Hand in San Francisco, Ca. My hope through this blog is to bring you factual information on how to eat sustainably, the local food and slow food movements and personal farmers market recipes I've developed over the years as a devoted farmers market customer.
By sustainable nutrition I mean ways of eating that promote environmental, ecological and economical sustainability. I choose the title nutrition verses eating because at the same eating healthy and nutritiously is equally important.