Don’t forget the EatGreenDFW Farmer’s Market on Sunday

It’s this Sunday at North Haven Gardens.  See the info from EatGreen’s blog…

That’s right. Our first real “brick and mortar” EatGreenDFW.com-sponsored Farmers Market will be held on Sunday, April 5 at North Haven Gardens at 7700 Northhaven Rd. in North Dallas, from 10 a.m. until sell-out or 5 p.m., whichever comes first.

The great folks at North Haven invited us to join them in what we’re calling the “First Sunday” Farmers Market. The intention is to hold it there the first Sunday of every month through the summer months as long as there is interest. (If there isn’t any, it will be the “Last Sunday” Farmers Market.) 

For this “first” First Sunday Farmers Market, we’ll have greens and onions from Garden Harvests and Texas Ranch And Dreams (it’s still a little early in the growing season) doggie treats from Ol Maggie Bakery. Peppered Jellies from Kap’s Pepper Company and farm fresh eggs from JuHa Ranch.  

JuHa, along with Dominion Farms. P.O.P. Acres and  JZJ Natural Beef  will also be on hand to take orders for meat and poultry products for delivery later that day or the next. At this point, we can’t directly sell meat and poultry to you at North Haven due to City of Dallas regulations that make it financially prohibitive to secure a permit for a one-day event. We’re working with the City’s Food Protection and Education Division to see if we can come up with a work around for future events.

But all the producer will be on hand to explain their farming and ranching practices and answer any questions you might have. We look forward to seeing you there. 

I’m definitely going to try and make it there early!

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

I had already purchased the ingredients to make these when I saw some great results on Reservations Not Required.  She has already posted the recipe.  So, follow the link and see what they’re truly supposed to look like.  I didn’t make mine round.  Lazy?  Maybe just a tad!  The recipe is from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics book. 

Aren’t they cute, though?  And very good.  I love that frozen puff pastry.  Because I never would have made this recipe without it!  The tarts are topped with parmesan, carmelized onions, herbed goat cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil.  I put the basil on right before I was about to take them out of the oven.  You can’t really taste basil if it’s cooked too long.  Anyway, these little guys puffed up quite nicely.  The recipe would be a great appetizer if the squares were even smaller and individually topped.  This batch represents one sheet of Pepperidge Farms puff pastry.

They were great with our soup last night.  Did anyone cook anything they particularly loved this weekend?  Or, better yet, did someone else cook for you?!

I’m So Pleased

My soups turned out great and I used leftovers to make them.  Yesterday, we went to Ali Baba and I had the Golden Chicken.  It’s basically half of a small roasted chicken with a huge pile of rice pilaf, pita bread and garlic sauce.  Their garlic sauce is about the most garlicky thing I’ve ever eaten.  So, most of the tub that came with the meal went home with me, along with the breast meat and alot of pilaf. 

I pretty much abandon the recipe early on.  Sauted some carrots, celery, onion and shallot with a little Italian seasoning, a little cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.  Threw in a fresh bay leaf, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, chicken broth, some white wine, a handful of frozen peas and corn.  A big hunk of Parmesan rind and the chopped up leftover chicken from my meal yesterday.  And just for good measure, I threw in a good handful or two of the pilaf instead of the orzo the recipe called for.  This is extremely tasty.  The Parmesan rind makes so much difference.  If you’ve never used it in a soup, you should definitely try it sometime.  I’m going to serve it with fresh basil and grated Parmesan.

On to the fish chowder.  Cooked some finely chopped bacon in the soup pot and set the bacon aside.  Threw in some onion and celery,  fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Sauted until soft.  Then, I added a fresh bay leaf, clam broth, two small diced russet potatoes and boiled until the potatoes were tender.  I mashed some of the potoes in the pot to give it some thickness.  Added diced orange roughy and Gulf shrimp.  Some milk and the bacon bits went into the pot, along with a couple of ounces of herbed goat cheese.  Last but not least, the garlic sauce from yesterday’s lunch.  Fabulously garlicky, lightly creamy, fish chowder.  Begs for some crusty dense bread.  Might have to break out that loaf of brown soda bread I froze the other day.

The pork chops may have to wait until tomorrow because these two pots of soup should feed us for days.  OK, sure, I made them based on the “Cooking for Two” recipes in the Eating Well cookbook.  I guess I got a little carried away.  I think each pot would serve at least four, if not five or six.

What next?  I’ve probably still got an hour or two before Hub gets home.  Finish laundry.  Prep salad.  Thaw bread.  This should all work out quite nicely.

Plans for a Weekend Day Alone

Hubbard has a bike ride that will take the better part of the day.  He shouldn’t be home until about 6:00 this evening.

What to do?  What to do?

First, spend the morning in my jammies looking over cookbooks.  I decide to skip the grocery store since I already have so much on hand.  I’ll cook what I have.

Hub leaves for his ride about noon.  I grab a glass of wine and indulge myself in a pamper bath.  Origins Ginger bath products, mint scented shampoo followed by Bliss Blood Orange and White Pepper Body Butter.  A little moisturizer, then pull my wet hair up with a clip, skip the makeup and go put on my most comfy jeans and a tshirt.  Now, I’m ready to cook.

I love nothing better than pulling up itunes and listening to Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s “Splendid Table” podcast while I cook.  I tend to miss episodes because Hubbard is home and I use an opportunity like this to catch up.

Today, I’m thinking Chicken Vegetable Soup and Creamy Fish Chowder would work for lunches next week.  I’ve really been on a soup kick recently.  For dinner, Pork Chops with Maple Mustard sauce, gratin potatoes with lots of grated parmesan and Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts.  An arugula salad would go well with that.  Maybe some dried cranberries and pecans thrown on top.  I might even attempt some kind of baked sweet thing.  We’ll see…  Oh, and wine.  I love to have a glass of wine nearby when I cook.  A little sip here and there keeps me in a Galloping Gourmet kind of mood.  (Remember that show?  Seriously dating myself here!)

Perfect. 

OK, maybe I’ll even throw in a load of laundry or two while I’m enjoying myself.  I do have to wear clean clothes next week in addition to eating.

Happy Sunday, folks!  It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Big D.  Throw open the windows and let it inside!

Jars

Since way before I ever cared about cooking or being green or anything like that, I’ve been a fool for jars.  There are a couple of shelves in a cabinet above my washing machine designated to store the jars that I’ve saved.   

They’re terrific for taking soup or any kind of liquid goodie to someone else’s house (think homemade Margarita mix).  Little tiny cute jars are great for a serving of salad dressing because you can shake the devil out of them and not worry about the dressing leaking out.  The general rule is that if they held liquid/juicy stuff to begin with, they’ll be good for that kind of thing in their next life.  I take the salad greens in a sandwich bag and the dressing in a small jar.  Tomatoes, other goodies, go into the lunch sack, either whole or in baggies.  I keep a big salad plate at work, a sharp knife and real silverware.  When I’m ready to eat, I chop the tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. and dress the salad.  I keep a soup bowl at work, too.  Take the soup to work in a jar.  Pour it up, nuke it.  Soup and salad for lunch. 

More things to think about for “keeper” jars… You might want to handwash the tiny ones unless you have a way of keeping them safe in the dishwasher.  I don’t have a dishwasher at all.  So, I never save a jar that I can’t get my hand down into far enough to reach the bottom with a sponge.  The really great jars are the type that have such a large mouth that you can stick and immersion blender into it and whip up some homemade mayo or anything else that needs a good puree.  Arriba salsa jars are particularly good for this kind of thing.  Hubbard uses them in the garage to soak small bicycle parts and various other little cleaning solution projects.

Nicely shaped jars with unprinted lids make a great gift presention.  A spice mix, cocoa, tea blend…  having the jar on hand cuts the cost of the gift considerably.  I usually keep a box of Mason jars around to be able to hand off good things without making the recipient worry about whether they need to give the container back to me.  They’re available at most major grocery stores in various sizes for a very reasonable price.

Honestly, I’ve been doing this so long, when I buy a product I think about whether or not the jar will be useful.  It’s my scavenger genes acting up, I guess!

Brown Soda Bread

 

 

Granted, it looks a little weird.  But, it tastes really good and it’s super easy.  If you haven’t had Irish soda bread before, it’s a very dense bread.  Here’s a look at the crumb of it…

 

 

 

 

 

It’s perfect with  beef stew and certainly makes the meal go farther since it is very filling.  The recipe calls for white flour, wheat flour, wheat bran, wheat germ and oats.  The first time I made it, I only used 2 cups wheat and white flours and it was a little lighter.  Not as good for you, though.  It’s an incredibly easy process.  I watched a video on www.epicurious.com and I was inspired to make it, though I am no baker.

All you do is mix the dry ingredients, add the butter and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingers, add the buttermilk and fold to bring the dough together.  You knead it just enough to make it form a ball and then you put it on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake it.

You really don’t want to handle it too much at all because it’s already dense at best.  Smashing it all together over and over might turn it into something you could load a cannon with, once it’s baked.  It’s best after it’s really cooled off and is just warm enough to barely melt butter.  You should try it…  good recession era food!

Brown Soda Bread

1 3/4 cups white flour
1 3/4 cups wheat flour (I used stoneground)
3 tablespoons wheat germ
3 tablespoons wheat bran
2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons, chilled butter, cut into pieces
2 cups buttermilk (or less)

Heat oven to 425 degrees. 

Mix all the dry ingredients together with your hands to break up the little clumps of brown sugar.  Add the butter and smash it up into the flour until you can’t really feel it anymore.  It’s not a lot of butter to incorporate into all those dried ingredients.  The recipe says it will resemble a “fine meal”.  I didn’t really notice it much at all once it was rubbed into the flour. 

Then I pour almost all the buttermilk into the bowl, maybe all but 1/4 cup.  I take a big spatula and fold it all until it starts to come together.  Then dump it out onto a floured surface and fold over a few times to form a ball and incorporate all the little odds and ends.  (You should really watch the video.  The recipe they use in the video contains raisins, caraway seeds and more sugar.  I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of thing.  But, the technique is really well illustrated.)  

I made one loaf the first time and two smaller ones this time.  Cut an “X” in the top of the loaf (about 1/4 inch deep) and lay the round loaf on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 425 for approximately 40 minutes.  The one big loaf had to cook a little longer than the suggested 40 minutes.  A toothpick should come out clean.  The loaf should make a hollow thump when you tap on the bottom, indicating it’s done inside.  Let it cool on a rack for about an hour.  You might think that super hot bread from the oven would taste better.  But, everything I read about this bread says to let it cool and the flavor and texture will improve with time. 

Great for breakfast, toasted with butter and preserves.  Great with a meal.  And too easy not to try.  Hey, you can go to the office and say you baked homemade bread last night.  You don’t have to tell them it only took you 15 minutes to throw it together!

Cowboy Chow Rocks

Interesting facts about Cowboy Chow:

1.  The unisex restroom.  Don’t freak out.  It’s not what you’re thinking.  There’s a mens door and a ladies door.  No matter which door you enter, you’re in the same room.  Where you think there would be a wall separating the dudes from the babes, there are mirrors suspended from the ceiling right above the sinks where they normally would be.  The right half of the room is for girls and the left half is for boys.  No urinals.  Instead, nice private little toilet areas on their respective sides (marked Ladies and Gentlemen) with locking doors that close just like the ones to your bathroom at the house.  No passing TP between stalls at this place.  There are no stall.  Just these private little rooms.  You could, however, talk to your husband as you both wash your hands because all that’s between the two of you is a mirror.  I was fascinated with the set up.  It would be a real shocker if you and your date went to the john at the same time because you’d both walk through separate doors and suddenly you’d find yourselves in the same room.  I didn’t see any hint that this was the case when I walked through the girl door.  In fact, I didn’t notice until I came out of my little private toilet area.  No one else was there but me.  If I saw some guy standing there I’m pretty sure I would have noticed right away.  Hubbard didn’t notice at all for the same reason.  I had to tell him.  He said, “Well, I’m damn glad no woman walked in because I didn’t bother to close the door!”  So, be aware.  (Long time Dallasites:  Begin Starck Club conversation here)

2.  This would be a fantastic place for a rehearsal dinner or any time you need to sit up to 20 people at the same table.  They have a couple of tables that would sit 12-16 comfortably.  You could probably squish in 20.  Plus, the food is so afforable and it’s so ”Texas” that I just couldn’t recommend it more for out of town guests, especially if you have a lot of them.

3.  The soundtrack is great and everyone is super friendly.  I love the Johnny Cash and basic cowboy sound of the music.  The waitstaff and everyone there is very welcoming and down to earth.  They say goodbye to every customer as they leave, wishing them a good day.  Overall, it’s just a very friendly, casual place with terrific food.  Now that they’ve started selling booze, it’s even better!

4.  The prices here are just incredible.  They are smart about their menu.  There aren’t six or seven different cuts of meat you can eat.  Basically, at lunch it’s brisket and chicken.  In the evening, you have a few more options.  We haven’t been for dinner yet.  The brisket is so tender and tasty that it easily works into several different forms.  Cigars (think flautas), tacos, grilled cheese, sloppy joes, parfait (you may have heard of this one), enchiladas, etc.  Chicken pot pie looks good, too.  We were there at brunch and the brisket breakfast tacos were amazingly good.  All of this… none of it over $10.  OK, maybe something was $11.  Whatever.  Fried green tomato lollipops $1.  When was the last time you ever saw something on a sit down restaurant menu for $1?  It just doesn’t happen.  I thought, “Oh, it’ll be a nice little bite maybe.”  No, this is a real tasty treat.  A nice hunky slice of fried green tomato on a skewer with “three cheese ranch”.  The dipping sauce is with a dollar or more.  Ranch with shredded cheddar and evidently two other cheeses (I didn’t ask what) mixed in.  It’s really more of a scooping sauce.  I used my fork to plop a little blob of it on each bite of my tomato.  Sooo good.  (Again, think back to big group and translate appetizer into $1 each.)  We also had the Cowboy Nachos.  The regular size is $4.  A nice little skillet of homemade potato chips drizzled with queso fresco, SW ranch, pico and ancho pepper salt.  Super tasty.  (One more time, two appetizers for practically nothing!)  We couldn’t hardly eat our tacos when they arrived.  Eggs, brisket, jalapeno, cheddar and salsa…  two big huge ones on a pile of homefries.  OK, we are pigs.  But, at these prices, why not?!

5.  Booze is cheap.  $3 beers, Texas brands.  $2 if you want a Pearl or a Pabst, which is what Hubbard says they are worth.  $5 specialty drinks.  $6.50 if you want top shelf.  I think top shelf means more booze because Hub ordered a top shelf margarita and I tasted it.  Not only was it a very good margarita, it was very strong.  I had a half carafe of their house white.  I believe she said it was Becker…  some Texas vinyard.  So, I decided to try it.  For $8 it was just fine.  A half carafe pours about 3 glasses of wine.  It didn’t seem to have a very high alcohol content though.  I was OK to shop after our huge meal. 

6.  Order the chocolate chip cookie with ice cream when you place your meal order, if you’re in a hurry.  If you just want to hang out for a while, don’t worry about ordering early.  I was not impressed with the description.  I mean, cookie… ice cream… big deal.  Hubbard insisted that I taste it.  They bring it out in a little metal pan, in which the cookie appears to have been cooked.  Ice cream on top.  The cookie is super hot and melty.  With a little dab of ice cream, I was shocked at how good the bite was.  You should order this dessert.  I don’t know how much it cost.  I had stopped caring at this point. 

7.  I’m not sure if they have those tiny two-top tables at all.  There is bar seating.  But, every couple around us was seated at a four-top.  We hate those itty bitty tables that aren’t really big enough for two people and their meals.  Also, when the loud family with rambunctious kids arrived, they were not seated in the area with all the couples.  The curse of not having children is that you aren’t accustomed to their ways.  And people who let their children stand in the booth and stare at you while you eat, wander around the restaurant and yell at the top of their lungs, don’t seem to realize that everyone in the place doesn’t enjoy their child as much as they do.  A smart hostess sits families in an area where there are other families, if possible.  Not next to the most romantic looking couple in the joint. 

8.  Cowboy Chow is “come as you are”.  Nice.  We were out to go antique shopping, something I don’t dress up for.  You could walk in wearing shorts and a t-shirt or dressed to the nines.  The place is fun and casual.  But, it still has it’s own special atmosphere.  You’re there for the ride.  I read recently that it seemed almost too cute.  I didn’t feel that way.  Hubbard said, “If this was a chain, I might feel like it was too much.”  If it was a chain, it wouldn’t be sincere.  No one would care.  I got the feeling that these people care. 

9.  There’s a chandelier out front and it’s in the Rogers building, dated 1925.  How cute is that?  And Saturday brunch is a good thing!

10.  You should go.  Really.  Go.

Matt Martinez Jr is Gone

He left this world on Friday, March 13.

God Bless him and his family.

So so sad.

Matt Martinez Jr

I’m so sad to hear that Matt is in hospice care that I don’t know if I can even write about it.  Hubbard and I have been Lakewood area residents for about 15 years now.  Hubbard was born in the area.  When we first moved here, Matt was there in the spot that is now the Starbucks, at the end of the strip by the Lakewood Theater.  Not just the restaurant, but Matt was there.  We saw him every time we dined at Matt’s Rancho Martinez and we dined there often.  When Hubbard was in law school, after he finished studying, he’d go out for a drink and often meet up with Matt after Matt had finished closing up the restaurant.  Matt always recognized a regular customer. 

Now, sadly, I found out last night that Matt might not be with us much longer.  Think of what he did in the local Tex Mex scene.  Mattito’s and Y.O. Ranch were highly influenced by him.  He’s opened up places around the Metroplex, appeared in cooking demos and been the general man-about-town.  Now, we may lose him.

I’m extremely sad about that.  What a wonderful personality he was and what wonderful food he provided.  If you don’t have his most recent cookbook, get it.  There is a photo of him in the back dressed as an angel.

Amen.

Lentils and Peas

I was going to make a lentil soup.  I’ve got several bags of leftover dried lentil varieties.  No bag has enough in it to make a soup on it’s own.  So, I thought I’d cook them all together.  I found some leftover dried split peas, too.  Would that go well in the lentil pot?  Or would that just be weird?