I know, I know… more food is shortly on the way. In the meantime, sprouts! Just oogle and ogle and goggle and boggle at the wonder that is Mother Nature. Who would have thunk a little “green house” effect could be so healthy in wooing the wee ones from the ground? And yet, here they come, on a race with destiny (otherwise known as my belly).

Arugula is well ahead of the pack. Each arugula is coming up glorious.
Radish a far cry in the rear. Like taking second place in a two man race.
And then there is Lollo. That red-headed leafy beauty who boggled the minds of so many previously. With that laissez-faire attitude of “maybe I will join the party, and maybe I won’t.”
All others have refused to join the party as of yet. But soon….

In other happy news: I have heard no “nay” from the landlords regarding my rooftop tomatoes. With a no answer I can only assume plant forth and prosper, no? This means no gray-haired grandmother’s stealing my (tomato) bounty.

The City Gardener #2
The City Gardener

I never liked Strawberry Shortcake growing up. I’m not talking about the dessert, but the doll. She was terribly pink and I never was a fan of pink. All high and holy on her board game; Rainbow Bright was much better. She sported moon boots even when they went out of fashion, a mini skirt that looked like a flotation device, had a tattoo on her face (so risqué), and her best friend was an unicorn! Okay, so now Rainbow and her friends look like they have spent all night at a Rave doing copious amounts of acid, but back then, she was cool.

Strawberry Shortcake did allow me to remember one important bit of information: dessert has two “s” like Strawberry Shortcake, while desert, cannot be a cake—or doll.

While I have pretty much gotten over my loathsome tendencies toward Shortcake (the doll) I must say the dessert is pretty darn good. And really, there is nothing better to usher in the warmer months than strawberries—Just do a Google search for ”strawberry festival” and you can see over 3 million people agree.

Unfortunately, it is the one fruit (or vegetable) I do not particularly enjoy picking for myself. I picked blueberries, corn, nectarines and peaches in heat that topped 100 degrees last summer. The strawberry fields… I stayed away from. It is just too laborious of a task to bend so low and rummage for the ruby in the haystack. (Note to self: borrow young child who does not mind stooping over for 1 hour to pick self fresh strawberries.) But humans do crazy things for love and this is why strawberries hold the status they do.

This dessert is no shortcake. It is a little bit classier, looks spectacular, tastes sophisticated enough to hold its own at dinner party, and yet is festive enough to highlight a BBQ. Made only yesterday, it has almost vanished, smacking a smile on D’s face with each bite.

*This recipe is adapted from an April 2005 Gourmet magazine. In mine, the cream cheese filling has been altered, as well as the topping. I also made a quick crust found in The Joy of Cooking. The original used kiwis, a store-bought pre-made crust, and incorporated no herb.

STRAWBERRY TART
Makes: 8-10 servings. Active Time= 30 minutes. Inactive Time=15 minutes
The Crust
*This is the recipe as it appears in the The Joy of Cooking.
For a double-crust 9-inch, or a single-crust pie with a generous lattice, use the following amounts. For a one-crust 9-inch pie, use half the recipe.
Sift Together:
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tsp salt
Measure and combine:
* 2/3 cup chilled leaf lard or shortening
* 2 Tbl chilled butter
Cut half the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, or work it in lightly with the tips of your fingers until it has the grain of cornmeal. Cut the remaining half coarsely into the dough until it is pea size. Sprinkle the dough with:
* 4 Tbl water
Blend the water lightly into the dough. You may lift the ingredients with a fork, allowing moisture to spread. If needed to hold the ingredients together, add:
* 1 tsp to 1 Tbl water
When you can gather the dough up into a tidy ball, stop handling it.
————-
1) Preheat oven to 450F. Roll out the dough and place it into your pie tin or tart mold. Bring the dough about ¼ inch over the edge of the tin; fold back to reinforce the edge.
2) Poke dough several times with fork. Cover bottom with tinfoil, add pie weights or dry beans or rice. Bake for 6 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and weight. Bake for 7-10 minutes more; until crust is golden.
3) Place on rack to cool. While cooling, make the filling (below).

The Filling
*Adapted from Gourmet, April 2005. Use a pie tin with removable bottom for easy serving.
* 6 oz cream cheese, room temperature
* 2 Tbl sugar
* 2 Tbl milk
* 2 tsp finely grated fresh orange zest
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 2 tsp fresh mint, chopped
* 10-12 ripe strawberries, tops removed, sliced in half
1) While crust (above) is cooling, in a bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, milk, zest, and vanilla with a mixer until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.
2) Add chopped mint; mix with spatula to incorporate.
3) Spread cream cheese filling evenly in cooled shell; top with strawberry slices.
NOTE: Can be made ahead and chilled. Tart should be brought to room temperature before serving.

Head on over to Sweetnick’s for today’s ARF round up!

My bounty from rare seeds arrived. Very exciting. I did not realize how over zealous I was while ordering– I have four different kinds of lettuce, arugula, beets and rainbow swiss chard… must retrieve more buckets. There will be a lot of salads this summer and anyone inviting me for a BBQ or potluck will receive a salad. (A warning not to tell me to bring anything else.) The company even threw in a packet of melon seeds. Now I just need to own a good size plot of land with enough sun to plant those suckers!

Today all the babies received a new home in peet pots and a little soil mixture I created: ¾ part planting soil, ¼ part coconut fiber. I cannot say that I did this because it produces the best starter soil, but because I had some coconut fiber lying around from orchids I replanted. Planted and marked with their contents, I spritzed them with water and waited for them to do something. They did nothing so I took a 30 minute walk over to Home Depot and bought a grow light. (I read somewhere that young ones should have 16 hours of sunlight. They will now receive plenty of beautiful artificial sun.)

So why no heirloom tomatoes or luscious bell peppers? Last year, my attempt at a tomato (bucket) garden was pathetic: 5 buckets, one took to disease; almost all fruit the survivors bore was stolen. Not just by squirrels, but women who very well might be my own grandmother (if she was not in California)?! I kid you not: one day as I cut back some house plants in my front room, I spied a curled-over-the-cane woman, topped with a poof of violet-gray. She stepped gingerly through my gated fence, snaged a barely ripe tomato, stuck it in her pocket and hobbled away!

I was so shocked I could only watch wide-eyed. It was not until she was well out of sight that I thought to run after her, throw her to the ground yelling, “how dare you steal my tomato!” break her cane over her head, take back my tomato and skip gingerly away with the knowledge that I had successfully assaulted somebody’s grandmother while taking back what was rightfully mine. But no worries, my slate is clean, and a little less full of my own labor.

This year, after consultation I have gone with vegetables that are less eye appealing. After all, I don’t really have the proper sun for tomatoes. I am thinking these seemingly less obvious vegetations will detract thieves; as will a large amount of chicken wire and possibly a nice padlock. I will however attempt my tomatoes in another fashion: I am taking to the roof. It is, after all, wasted on the cable man (which I don’t even utilize)– he is the only one I have seen up there. I have asked the landlord and my request has gone through one affirmative with a tag of, “oh, but please don’t kill yourself.” Let us hope clearance is made and I will cultivate the roof into more than just shelter from the elements.

The City Gardener

My half-Lebanese friend, A, was making me Arabic coffee on the stovetop: boil, remove, boil, remove, boil, remove and serve. I watched as she deftly transferred the steaming contents into a mishmash of petite coffee cups, perfect for a 5 year old’s tea party. We returned to our seats, took the spiced contents, laughing and drinking over dessert. It became a tradition in A’s apartment that before fleeing for the night, we would slow down with some Arabic coffee. One round of coffee quickly became two, then three or four. We drank until we were too giddy with caffeine and sugar to move.

Each time she made it I ensured her it was fabulous—great until the last bits sloshed around the bottom of the cups and we read our fortunes in the grounds. I had had Greek coffee and Turkish coffee plenty of times, all appeared in the same baby mugs, but none had the aroma or flavor of A’s Arabic coffee. It filled the apartment, tinged the tips of our tongues and spread warmth throughout or bodies. A finally told me the secret to the coffee: the blackened beans are mixed with cardamom.

A few years later I would accompany A to Lebanon. Cardamom blew off the Mediterranean and seeped throughout Beirut: Families brought lawn chairs to the corniche, calling over coffee vendors who banged their brass pot to announce their arrival. On the city streets, coffee vendors pushed little wagons decorated brightly with Lebanese flags and red and white ribbons. Equipped with Bunsen burners, they brewed coffee for the businessmen who paused to take delight in the beverage. Young people sat in coffee shops that overflowed onto the street drinking the bitter coffee while smoking nargeela.

I always associated cardamom with A and her world.

We arrive in present day. D and I sit on the couch reading. I read a book on the history of food. He reads a book on the history of Vikings. D gets angry at the book, “it always just says spices, spices, spices, were brought back on their voyages to the Mid-East! Where is the human interest?! I want to know what kind!” I flipped the page in my history of food book making a casual comment about how the Vikings are pretty amazing to make it all the way to the Mid-East. Low and behold, my own book provides a short blurb on Vikings and cardamom.

D is amazed. He is giddy and grabs my laptop searching for cardamom in Scandinavian cuisine. He must taste what the Vikings tasted. It is not Arabic coffee he seeks, the Vikings did not bring Arabic coffee back to Scandinavia, they brought the cardamom pod. His search is complete when he finds a site recanting Scandinavian desserts, all chock full of roasted and ground cardamom pods. We learn that in their voyages, the Vikings grew a fond liking to cardamom. It became so popular in Scandinavia that the Vikings were soon bringing boatloads of it home.

We soon found the recipe below on Martha Stewart. “Genius!” D declared. And then, “I am so ahead of fashion!” Soon D is tasting cardamom in everything. We are eating Indian food and D proclaims hints of cardamom. I mumble something to the effect of, “duh, one of the main ingredients in most of it.” But soon the obsession takes him further, we must have an authentic Norwegian breakfast: herring, ryvita crackers, tomatoes and cucumbers– a piercing shot of Aquavit is added to the occasion. “Cardamom! There is cardamom in the herring!” D announces. He runs to the refrigerator, removes the bottle and returns, “Aha! I told you! Spices! Spices are listed on the ingredients!” This of course actually proves nothing but D is confident in his discovery.

We make the cake and it is delicious. It better be– with almost 4 sticks of butter how can it not be fantastic? It was so good that D went out and bought a new cake display to show off his work. This easy access only made the cake disappear faster. In the morning it is a good sweet breakfast. In the afternoon it is the perfect snack. Of course, it is best had with a cup of cardamom infused coffee.

This is the recipe as it appears on Marth Stewart.

CARDAMOM STRUESEL COFFEE CAKE
Makes: 10-12 servings.
For the Struesel
* 18 whole cardamom pods
* 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
For the Cake
* 2-½ cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* ½ teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* ½ teaspoon salt
* ¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
* 1-¼ cups sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 1-¼ cups low-fat plain yogurt
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* Vegetable-oil cooking spray

1) Preheat oven to 350°. Bake cardamom pods on a rimmed baking sheet until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack; let cool completely. Finely grind cardamom in a spice grinder. Pass through a large-mesh sieve; set aside.
2) Prepare the streusel; Whisk flour, brown sugar, 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom, and the salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside.
3) Coat a 10-inch nonstick angel-food-cake pan with cooking spray; set aside.
4) Prepare the cake; Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom, the cinnamon, and salt into a medium bowl. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the yogurt. Mix in vanilla.
5) Spoon half of the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with 2 1/2 cups streusel. Top with remaining batter. Squeeze remaining streusel into large and small clumps; sprinkle on top of batter. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool 10 to 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan by slightly raising removable center piece; invert onto baking sheet, and then reinvert onto wire rack to cool completely.

Note: Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living, January 2006

Spring is a fabulous time to slow down a little before the summer hustle. It is the time when we come out of doors with welcome arms. Everyone seems happier, more active and generally more excited to be alive. With this in mind, it is also a great time to celebrate. Be it any occasion: holiday, birthday, the weather itself, friends or engagements, now is the time to invite your loved ones into your home.

It was the combination of a traveling actor friend in town and two recent engagements of marriage that my friends would dine with me tonight. Their task was simple: a few bottles of wine. My task was to prepare an ideal spring feast. I believe we all accomplished our set duties.

While mulling over menu options I was torn between chicken, pork or lamb. Chicken seemed too average and easy, pork was, you know, the other white meat. Lamb seemed exotic. But while many people take great fear of lamb, I figured my friends were the adventurous types and I would forge ahead.

Sure enough when we sat to the table my friend DR voiced his concern: “You know Stacey, I’ve never eaten good lamb. I’m kind of afraid. It’s all been slightly… barnyardy?”

“That’s okay,” I reassured him, “I’ve never cooked lamb before, so we’re kind of even.” With that, he finished off his glass of wine. DR’s fiancé then voiced her concerns, “I’ve eaten lamb in kibe (Middle Eastern lamb balls with other spices) and on kebabs, but any roasted lamb I’ve ever had has been terrible.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re in for an adventure.” I returned.

No sooner was the lamb brought to the table that forks were rearing to stab at it. Across the board the meal was a success. DR and his fiancé were reassured the merits of good lamb, and I was reassured that I can cook lamb. The spices were a great compliment to the sauce, and with the millet side, everything was the colorful festive spring feast I sought.

DR mentioned his barnyardy objection to lamb. I would have to agree that lamb, like any meat is easily spoiled if a few rules are not met: freshness and cooking time. Freshness is key. If kept in the refrigerator (or meat department of your grocery store) too long the meat will begin to spoil (obviously). In the refrigerator, it will pick up the odors of food around it. Make sure to check dates and grade of meat to ensure freshness. Overcooked meat is depressing. This is easily done if a good meat thermometer is not utilized, or placed incorrectly. It is important to know what cut of meat you have, how it’s best to prepare that cut, and the ideal temperature for the outcome you desire.

With that, a fabulous spring meal, perfect for the upcoming holidays…

ROAST LAMB w/ MANGO-MINT SAUCE
Makes: 6 servings. Active Time= 30 minutes. Inactive time= 5 hours to 2 days. Cook Time= depends on size of meat; about 40 minutes.
ROAST LAMB
* 6 pound leg of lamb, ask your butcher to crack the bone and butterfly the cut**
* 3 Tbl fresh rosemary, chopped
* 3 Tbl fresh mint, chopped
* 3 Tbl fresh sage, chopped
* 2 head of garlic, 1 crushed, 1 whole
* 20 pearl onions, 10 crushed, 10 whole
* 1 Tbl ground cumin
* 1 Tbl ground cardamom
* ½ Tbl ground cinnamon
* salt/ pepper
* 4 Tbl olive oil

1) Bring the meat to room temperature before cooking. Mix the first 3 ingredients, 1 head of garlic and the ten crushed pearl onions with fresh ground pepper. Rub 2 Tbl olive oil over the lamb and rub the herb mixture over the leg of lamb; between the cuts, top and bottom. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate 5 hours up to 2 days.
2) Preheat the oven to 300F. Remove the lamb from the refrigerator, brushing off about half the rub. Sprinkle with cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon. Amply salt and pepper both sides and between the cuts. Tie securely with twin to hold the meat together.
3) On the stovetop in a large skillet on high heat, warm 2 Tbl olive oil. Sear the leg on all sides. Apply a fresh sprig of mint and rosemary under the twine. Chop the top off the second head of garlic, just to expose the tips and place it on the skillet. Add the onions around the lamb.
4) Place on rack, fatty side up. Insert a meat thermometer deeply, almost to the bone.
5) The meat is done when the thermometer reads 125 for medium-rare.
6) Remove from oven and allow meat to rest on cutting board for 15 minutes before slicing.

** To butterfly meat is to slice it so the meat looks like a book with the bone as the book spine.

MANGO-MINT SAUCE
* 1 fresh mango, peeled and pit discarded
* 1 cup fresh mint
* 1 tsp Serrano pepper seeds
* 1 Tbl lemon juice
* pinch of salt

1) Use a hand-held or electric blender to purée all ingredients until evenly blended. Serve at room temperature to slightly chilled.

MOROCCAN MILLET
Makes: 6 servings. Active Time= 10 minutes. Cook Time= 25 minutes
* 3 cups dried millet
* 6 cups water
* 1 bunch spinach, washed well
* ½ cup dried cranberries or apricots
* ½ cup roasted pine nuts
* salt/ pepper to taste

1) Cook the millet according to package instructions. While it is cooking, sauté the spinach. Once done, leave on heat. Add spinach, cook about three minutes to reheat spinach; stirring to ensure the millet does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
2) Add dried fruit, nuts and salt/ pepper. Stir and place in serving bowl.

RUM PINEAPPLE w/ BABY ALMONDS
Makes: 6 servings. Active Time= 10 minutes. Inactive Time= 1 hour.
* 1 fresh ripe pineapple
* 2 Tbl butter
* 1 cup dark rum
* 2 Tbl brown sugar
* ½ cup baby almonds **

1) Slice top and bottom off pineapple; slice off skin. Cut into quarters. Remove center rind. Cut each quarter into 4 pieces lengthwise. Place pineapple slices in shallow dish and cover with rum and brown sugar. Refrigerate 1 hour.
2) On a skillet on medium heat, warm the butter. Sauté pineapple slices until lightly browned.
3) While pineapple is browning, in a small skillet on medium heat pour the sugar-rum mixture. Let it warm while the pineapple cooks. Serve pineapple slices with ice cream, coated in rum-sugar syrup with baby almonds sprinkled on top.

** Baby almonds are found usually around late March. They are immature almonds, still in their fuzzy pods, plucked before the almond has the opportunity to harden into the nut we love to eat. To use, peel off the fuzzy outer shell. The inner snow-white nut is the non-ripe almond you want to use in this dish. They are crunchy and contain a clear jell inside (that eventually hardens to white with maturity)

*** Remember to save your bones for soup!!! ***

Head on over to Sweetnick’s for today’s ARF round up!

Over at Kalyn’s Kitchen, check out some WHB action. Today’s herb? Mint.

We give up a lot living in the city: clean air and lungs, vast spans of land to mow, a little piece of nature… Of course, city living has its benefits and this is why we choose to live here. But whenever I leave the city I am quick to stop at all roadside produce carts, cheese farms, pick-your-own farms, or gaze longingly at gardens in their prime, be it on balconies or backyards, overflowing with freshness. I pout and realize, this is what I have given up!

It is a near oxymoron when a city dweller mentions putting care into a garden. But this is the year to prove that us city dwellers can grow green too! Hide no longer and be proud of that bucket of beans on your fire escape, the solitary tomato perched precariously on your windowsill, or your bucket of arugula hiding casually on your stoop. I am calling to arms The City Gardener.

I am forcing notice on my petite city garden and will post updates throughout the growing season. If any other city gardeners care to join in the occasion, by all means, keep track of your garden progress. You can send me your link, I’ll throw it up with my updates, and we’ll create a little city garden network.

With some advice from the Ms. Farm Girl, I have ordered my seeds from rareseeds.com. My radishes, arugula, lettuce assortment and beets should be arriving any day now. Until then, I have brought you my semi-happy windowsill herb garden.

Left to right: apple-mint, pineapple-sage, rosemary, basil and dill. Why Ms. Basil and Senior Dill have decided to be a no-show while all their friends happily thrive? I do not know (I even rotate them so they all receive equal light. Also, what’s the deal with my fruit herbs? I bought them thinking the names were oh so cute, but… they really do have hints of apple and pineapple?!

Oh sweet BBQ season. It means beaches, parks, potlucks and picnics. But what happens when you receive the dreaded request to, “just bring a side”? Your mind reels, palms sweat and hands twist into knots until…. Brilliance! Mother’s famous potato salad will be made! You arrive at your potluck/BBQ and realize it seems everybody had a similar mother with the same inclination towards potato salad. And now you must try everyone’s potatoes and tell them how subtly different they are:
“Oh, the hint of chipotle and mustard in this one is interesting.”
“Mmm, mint? That’s my favorite.”
“An interesting use of vinegar.” [Code for too much]
“Wow, another potato salad?”

Feel free to use any of the above. I remember my family always did something “different.” We brought a fruit salad. And since you can never go wrong with too much fruit at the above mentioned functions, this was an all too easy crowd pleaser.

With tradition in mind, I have altered the usual fruit salad into something colorful, slightly unusual and extremely refreshing. It is great for a small budget and can be remade in variations of one’s choosing. It can be tossed (for a large quantity) or set precisely (as above).

For this recipe I used a pomelo, happy relative of the grapefruit. They are the largest citrus available; mine was just larger than a cantaloupe. Sweeter than a grapefruit, mine contained miniscule seeds that were easy to bypass and eat, making them quite enjoyable. Sliced up they are easier to consume. The dressing for this recipe is fabulously refreshing. It couples nicely with the fruit and makes an overall perfect addition to almost any summer salad.

POMELO SALAD
Makes: 2 servings. Active Time= 8 minutes.
* 1 pomelo (or red grapefruit)
* 1 orange
* 4 radish
* 1 stick celery
* 4-5 leaves fresh mint
* 1 Tbl Tarragon vinegar
* 1 Tbl fresh lemon juice
* 2 Tbl fresh orange juice
* sea salt

1) Slice the skins off the pomelo and orange. Leave whole and cut into ¼-inch thick discs. Slice the radish paper-thin. Arrange on plate or toss in bowl.
2) Slice celery into slivers; toss over citrus. Tear mint leaves and toss over citrus.
3) Sprinkle sea salt over salad.
4) In a small container mix the vinegar, lemon juice and orange juice. Pour this dressing over salad just before eating; mixing well before applying to salad.

Over at Kalyn’s Kitchen, check out some WHB action. Today’s herb? Mint.

And in non-food related news WCB at Eat Stuff brings us the world of cats. Here I seem to have encountered the end of a bitter fight. I think it might involve the new blanket basket I bought at the dollar store. Maybe it was something I said.

Head on over to Lindy Toast for the Something For Nothing wrap up!