Fresh Tart

Is there anything more fun than conjuring something delicious from nothing but your imagination and leftovers? Don't answer that, but instead consider the primal satisfaction that comes from being both resourceful and frugal. I may have read a few too many Laura Ingalls Wilder stories as a young girl, but preparing meals from a perfect recipe with perfect ingredients is neither as fun nor as tasty as making things up as I go from whatever I have on hand. Urban pioneering. Or something.

Anyhow, that's all a long explanation for how I arrived at making this harissa, the of-the-moment condiment that is making its way into every meal at our house. Not only was the harissa itself arrived at in my attempt to not waste lovely ingredients leftover from other recipes, but in turn I'm using the harissa to make up an endless number of flavorful dishes on the fly.

I'm calling this harissa although it's really a deliciously ubiquitous chile-tomato paste, relevant to put a Middle Eastern spin on a dish, but also at home in Tex-Mex and Asian dishes as well. The depth of flavor comes from toasting the chiles and spices as well as roasting the tomatoes. I lean on the grocery-store versions of harissa and chile pastes as much as the next person, but you really can't beat the intensity and freshness of flavor achieved by making harissa yourself. Harissa typically doesn't include tomatoes, but I do love how the tomatoes temper the paste's heat, and add a level of acidity, that I think widens harissa's horizons. Scrape the finished, cooled paste into a jar and enjoy for several weeks, in any way you can think of.

A few ideas to get you started:

Spoon over leftover steak, pork, chicken, tofu, or any number of vegetables and roll into warm corn tortillas.
Smear on grilled flatbread and top with an egg fried in olive oil.
Stir into broth for cooking couscous or rice. Serve the cooked grains with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, olives, fresh herbs, a crumble of cheese, and toasted nuts. Top with a poached egg to gild the lily.
Swirl into a bowl of pretty much any soup to take it from just fine to truly incredible. Think Asian noodle soups, Italian-style broth soups, Mexican-style tortilla soups.
Whisk into vinaigrettes.
Add to pasta sauces, creamy or tomato, for lovely color and depth of flavor.
Mix into and onto meatloaf or meatballs.
Brush onto grilling or roasting chicken.
Spread on generously buttered bread before making your best grilled cheese sandwich ever. Ditto quesadillas.

Do not be surprised if you consider rubbing it into sore muscles!

Recipe for Chile-Tomato "Harissa" at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Braise a pot of beans one day, eat well for the next several. It's the laziest, most delicious way to fill a week with food that I can imagine.

Day 1 eat a bowlful of beans, on their own or alongside a roast or spooned over rice.

Day 2 fry some beans until crispy and top with sauteed greens and a poached egg.

Day 3 puree some of the cold beans with garlic, fresh lemon juice, and olive oil and eat the spread with chips or smeared generously on grilled bread.

Day 4 puree some of the warm beans with chicken or vegetable stock and eat piping hot as soup, topped with crispy Brussels sprouts and toasted walnuts (fry sliced Brussels in hot olive oil/butter combination).

Your ideas? Share them!

The soup pictured is made with chickpeas, although the foolproof recipe - via Cafe Levain chef Adam Vickerman - is written for white beans. His technique works for whatever beans you like, so experiment away! (Leftover beans freeze beautifully, by the way.)

Original recipe for Braised White Beans at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Happy Almost Thanksgiving! If you're searching for a refreshing, flavorful salad for the holiday table, I've got just the dish. This wild rice salad has been a Meyer family favorite for years and I'm always happy to see it on my plate. Right when the richness of buttery stuffing, buttery mashed potatoes, and buttery gravy threatens to tank your palate, slide your fork over for a bite of this salad, snappy and downright refreshing with orange zest and the crunch of toasted pumpkin seeds.

Bonus 1: It tastes even better the next day, which makes it a perfect do-ahead dish as well as a leftovers treat.
Bonus 2: It can easily be made vegan.
Bonus 3: You can play with the ingredients to your heart's content. Pine nuts instead of pumpkin seeds. Pomegranate seeds instead of golden raisins. Add cubes of roasted squash. Add cubes of apple. Just don't add marshmallows...

Enjoy a lovely meal, everyone!

Recipe for Crunchy Wild Rice Salad with Citrus Dressing at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

While the rest of my garden is toast, the parsley lives on, just begging me to make tabbouleh salad. Except tabbouleh is made with bulgur, which is wheat, which I can't eat. Damn it!

Enter quinoa, the grain that is conveniently a gluten-free seed, hey. I'm not as obsessed with quinoa as some, but in a salad like this, its nutty crunchiness is perfectly tabboulehesque...in fact, you would likely not realize you weren't eating traditional tabbouleh salad if someone (like me) didn't point it out.

And except for all the substitutions I made, because that is one of the best things about tabbouleh - it welcomes just about any vegetable or nut you have knocking around in your kitchen. Zucchini not cucumbers? Fine! Roasted red peppers instead of tomatoes? Lovely! Pistachios in place of pine nuts? Great!

No matter the salad ingredients, I always add lemon zest, toasted cumin and coriander seeds, and toasted sesame oil to to the dressing to really pop the flavor. The recipe below is vegan, but feel free to cook the quinoa in chicken stock, or toss in crumbled feta cheese and/or pieces of tender chicken for further popping.

Or try this, my very favorite way to eat tabbouleh: while it hums alongside hummus (together stuffed into a warm, fresh pita for a flavorful sandwich if you're not gluten-free), this simple trick is even more mind-blowing: smear a generous dollop of Greek yogurt in the bottom of a bowl, sprinkle it lightly with a bit of salt and freshly cracked pepper, then spoon the tabbouleh over the top. As you enjoy your salad, swipe the bottom of the bowl with your spoon (I suggest a spoon, not a fork), so each bite of nutty crunchiness is elevated by a slide of creamy yogurt. I'm pretty sure you'll like it very much.

Quinoa Tabbouleh
Serves 6

1 c. quinoa, rinsed
1 1/4 c. water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 red bell pepper
2 small zucchini, cut into 1/2" dice (about 1 c.)
1/2 - 1 c. chopped fresh flatleaf parsley (to taste)
1/2 c. chopped fresh mint
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 c. chopped (pitted) kalamata olives
1/2 c. chopped toasted pistachios (or pine nuts)

Dressing
1/2 tsp. each cumin & coriander seeds
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
grated zest of one lemon
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt

freshly ground black pepper

Greek yogurt for serving

Add quinoa, salt, and water to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn heat to low, cover, and simmer quinoa for 10 minutes. Keep covered, remove from heat, and let sit for 5 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a medium bowl to cool, fluffing with a fork a few times as it comes to room temperature.

Meanwhile, over a gas flame or under a broiler, scorch the bell pepper until blackened on all sides. Place in a small paper bag for 20 minutes. When cool, slide charred skin off, remove and discard seeds and stem, and cut flesh into 1/4" dice.

While the quinoa and bell pepper cool, toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant (watch carefully so they don't burn). Grind in a coffee grinder or mortar & pestle and add to a small bowl. Whisk in lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, sesame oil, garlic, and salt. Set aside.

When quinoa is cool, add the bell pepper, zucchini, parsley, mint, scallions, olives, and pistachios. Whisk dressing and pour over salad, tossing well to combine. Season with freshly ground black pepper (and a bit more salt, if needed). Serve with Greek yogurt. Can be made one day ahead; however, reserve pistachios until just before serving to preserve crunch.

I had a blast chatting fall soups on Twin Cities Live this week! I specifically talked about Coconut Curry Sweet Corn Soup, but also brought along Pozole (pork braised with chiles and hominy) and a Chicken Vegetable Soup that's pretty much the perfect post-Thanksgiving soup (obviously made with turkey not chicken - please forgive me for mentioning Thanksgiving this early in September...).

It's nice to serve the Pozole with freshly fried tortilla chips. Then again, everything is nice with freshly fried tortilla chips.

It was fun for me to look back at my Farmily post for the Chicken Vegetable Soup recipe. We've had so many delicious times at my aunt Mary & uncle Bruce's farm!

Recipes for all three soups at Twin Citites Live.

Let's call it summer and make plans to eat outside, preferably as often as possible. Dinner al fresco pretty much anywhere feels special, but dinner on a farm is particularly divine for us city dwellers, away from cubicles and concrete, with time to learn about, discuss, and savor food prepared at its source.

In fact, one of the best meals I enjoyed in all of 2011 was an Outstanding in the Field (OITF) dinner, at Riverbend Farm near Delano. I realize that a setting so gorgeous can work strange magic (farm goggles?), but I'm quite sure that aside from the view, the bounty of family-style platters, piled with fresh salads, cheeses, and wood-fire grilled meats, would blow my mind in the dingiest of rooms. When the night ended with chanterelle mushroom ice cream - a dish at once delicious, clever, and just plain fun - I knew I'd had an unforgettable meal.

If you missed last year's event, no worries: OITF is circling back to the Twin Cities on August 9, this time landing at picturesque Little Foot Farm near Afton. Given OITF's stated mission to "re-connect diners to the land and origins of their food and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it," there will most certainly be discussion about how Little Foot owners Karen Weiss and Sally Doherty found their calling, especially given they were inspired to raise hogs in general and Berkshires in particular after being served "awesome" Berkshire pork by chef Lenny Russo at a 2005 OITF event.

Weiss and Doherty sell their heritage-breed Berkshire and Gloucestershire Old Spot hogs directly to food enthusiasts and a few local chefs, including chef Mike Phillips of Three Sons Meat Company (formerly Green Ox).

I tagged along with Phillips and chef Scott Pampuch - the two are this year's OITF host chefs - as they scouted the farm for the event and chatted with Weiss about Little Foot's sustainable philosophy and their careful practices for humanely raising and selling best-quality, highly-prized pork (as well as chickens, eggs, produce, and bedding plants).

As we talked, there might also have been a fair amount of piglet cooing going on, even by the charcuterie boys (the pic up top might be one of my favorites, ever). Oh my goodness the Gloucestershire Old Spot piglets are adorable with their snuggly snorting and flirty sly smiles. We were smitten!

You'd think it might have been tricky to move from petting pigs to planning the menu but alas, it was a seamless progression. Both Phillips and Pampuch are known for their pork mastery, so it goes without saying that the meal - which will also include piles of gorgeously prepared vegetables - will be at its essence utterly porktastic. The charcuterie was begun the very next day, in fact, with the butchering of two hogs.

Picture a dinner table set with a colorful variety of snappy, custom-made condiments to sample with each course, including the spicy-tangy-sweet Rhubarb Mostarda pictured below. Serve the mostarda as a foil for rich pork belly, pork terrine, or pork rillettes.

Buy tickets for this year's dinner at the OITF website. See Little Foot Farm's website if you're interested in purchasing heritage-breed pork, chicken, eggs, produce, or bedding plants.

See you on the farm!

Chef Matt Morgan's recipe for Rhubarb Mostarda at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

It's a little bit ridiculous that I haven't posted about sopes before - I make and devour them several times a week. In fact, I'm a maniacal cornmeal cake fan in general. Chef Thomas Boemer had an insane version on Corner Table's menu a couple of weeks ago, with a bit of lard kneaded in, fried in butter, and topped with pork confit. Oh my word it was so good that I ordered another one to go to have for breakfast the next day.

You can do some pretty serious sope damage at Midtown Global Market as well. Taqueria Los Ocampo's version is a fabulously hot mess, loaded with tender chicken, melted cheese, lettuce, radishes, and sour cream. Add one of their fantastic salsas, alongside a large stack of napkins, and dig it like a day off.

The version I eat most often is the one I make at home. Nothing more than masa harina, a pinch of salt, and water kneaded together before being shaped and fried, they're the perfect delivery vehicle for pretty much whatever you have on hand: Guacamole, eggs any style, salad, cheese, beans, chorizo, tomatoes, pickled things, fried potatoes, on and deliciously on...

Recipe for Sopes at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Given that everything is better fried - everything - it will come as no surpirse that root vegetables make utterly dreamy latkes. I like celery root in particular for its slightly sweet flavor.

These latkes are delicious as is, fresh out of the fat with a dab of sour cream, but my favorite way to eat them is topped with a poached egg. I know: Everything is Better Fried and Just Put an Egg On It, two of my favorite food credos, together in the same post? Out of control.

This same technique works nicely with zucchini as well. I particularly like a mix of zucchini and green pepper, in the summer when both are abundant, topped with Greek yogurt and scallions. Or a fresh tomato sauce. Or ooh, with Molly Herrmann's tomato jam! So lovely. We'll have to wait a few more months to play around with all that fun, however.

For now, fry your root vegetables and be very happy.

And then join the Minnesota Food Bloggers for a Saturday, January 21, viewing of TEDxManhattan: Changing the Way We Eat webcast, 9:00 am, at the Minnesota History Center. The webcast will be followed by a discussion and reception sponsored by Minnesota Monthly Magazine. The event is free of charge.

And join Jason DeRusha and me next Monday evening, January 23, as we assist Chef Scott Pampuch for Chef's Night Off cooking class at Kitchen in the Market. I hope that you can be there with us for food, hands-on cooking, wine, and FUN!

Recipe for Celery Root Latkes at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

These may look like ordinary white beans but they're actually the cool-girl beans in town, swooned over on Twitter, gossiped about on Facebook, photographed and copied and seriously in demand. I'd love to take credit for the fabulous recipe but no, these are via Chef Adam Vickerman of Cafe Levain, who now has the lady food bloggers in town batting their eyelashes over beans.

The flirtation began last spring, at a California Olive Ranch-sponsored dinner at Levain. As the beans were served, an audible murmur went through the room as the ladies realized that the delicious dish was not only vegetarian but vegan. I myself was inspired and without asking Adam for his recipe, made my own version of braised beans with rosemary and arugula when I wrote about the event.

When word got around that Adam was cooking for our lady food blogger gathering in December, requests showered in for the beans! And so he obliged, and then shared the recipe, which is beautifully simple and a perfect example of how coaxing maximum flavor from a few good ingredients is how we should all be cooking.

Adam Vickerman's recipe for Braised White Beans at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Note: The lovely bowl in the photo was made by Fred Yerich of Frogtown Pottery. The fork I snagged - with permission, of course! - from Corner Table.

How do you like your gazpacho? Smooth or chunky? Spicy or sweet? I'm such a gazpacho lover that I like it any way, honestly, and mix it up every time that I make it, depending on my mood and what I have on hand.

This version is a combination of elements from two friends' recipes: Artist Maud Bryt, and co-Minnesota Food Blogger Laurie Jesch-Kulseth, who writes the lovely blog Relishing It. I love the tomato juice that Laurie uses, and so enjoy the hearty dash of paprika and fresh herbs that Maud calls for - together they make a particularly delicious gazpacho, as spicy or smooth as you want it to be, rich and tomato-y. If it's a really hot day, Maud adds more cucumbers. Laurie makes her own garden-fresh tomato juice. It's fun to experiment with adding watermelon, your favorite herbs, or hot chiles.

The key to a really tasty gazpacho is to taste and adjust and make it your own. Recipe for Gazpacho at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.