Thursday, July 14, 2011

Good to the Grain

Tune of the Moment: "To Build A Home" by The Cinematic Orchestra (featuring Patrick Watson-who sounds very much like Chris Martin from "Coldplay").


This is an awesome song. Fact. I only discovered it recently and it wriggled its way into, not only my little heart, but the hearts of my sister, father and mother (my brother is slightly uncultured, the little punk). It was used, super effectively, at the end of a play we saw. The play in question, "...miskien" ("perhaps" in Afrikaans) is a gem of a play, which was directed by the amazing Tara Louise Notcutt. You can find out more about the play and amazing South African theater here


The original:



A live version:




While I was home in South Africa I spent a lot of time pouring over Heidi Swanson's amazing new cookbook "Super Natural Every Day." I just wanted to eat (note: I said "eat" not "cook" because I'm freaking lazy) everything in the book! So many delicious grain recipes and fascinating flavor-pairings. Yumyumyumyum...for lack of a better, more sophisticated term. It definitely made me think about two things:
1) I love exploring the wide grain selection that exists in the USA and I should take advantage of being able to find things like teff, amaranth, etc. easily in my grocery store.
2) I really enjoy stretching the notion of "breakfast foods" by incorporating less breakfast-y items and focusing on savory dishes. Have a sandwich at 10am-why not?! Miso soup to kickstart your day? Hell to the yes!

So, I used my Heidi-inspired zealous for grainy goodness to help me start using my pint-sized kitchen in NYC. Before I left for SA, I existed on take outs. They weren't the fast food options, but I wasn't using my kitchen because I'd just moved into my new place and was leaving, imminently for a month of SA vaycay. What was the point of stocking up on groceries and perishable goods? But, my new kitchen, as I've mentioned before, is rather narrow and countertop space is lacking so I developed a slight fear of breaking out the pots, pans, micro-graters, mini-sieves, Kiwi cleavers, etc. I made a resolution to cut the bs and get cooking when I got back to NYC.

Another aspect of inspiration came in the form of Karen Dudley's amazing work at her Cape Town restaurant, "The Kitchen". Michelle Obama (she-of-the-awesome-ripped-arms) was in Cape Town and, strangely enough, went to The Kitchen for lunch. The city was beside themselves with excitement-both because the prettier Obama was in town and also because we all adore Karen and the exposure for her food haven was awesome. Both my friend, Lunar Eclipse, and my aunt, Blonde&Beyond, work in the vicinity of The Kitchen and buzzed about the event.

The following week I met Lunar Eclipse for lunch at The Kitchen and was, yet again, made blissfully aware of how fulfilling and delish good, simple food is. The lunch menu consists of several salads (replenished frequently throughout the lunch rush), roast chicken portions, sandwiches on floury buns, and other items. I fed my soul with lentil salad, honey-roasted chickpeas, a wild rice salad, a version of Champignon a la Grecque, and other green, leafy goodness. I said to Lunar, mouth full and eyes wide, that it should be easy to create dishes like these in one's home. She looked at me thoughtfully but dubiously and went back to nibbling on shredded red cabbage salad. Part of the satisfaction comes from the variety of food-variety is hugely important and necessary to feeling happy after a meal. Who wants to eat the same thing, every day, for the same meal? You need to shake things up. And I prefer meals like soup and salad, or a sandwich and a side so that your senses are engaged as you ingest different textures and flavours.

So, first week back in NYC and I hit Trader Joe's (hard) and realised that the challenge of this kind of eating/cooking is that doing it for one person is trickytrickytricky. Despite this, I decided to do it just this once so that I could experiment-and I forbode myself from dwelling on the waste factor (eek!). The result: lentil and marinated mushroom salad (the mushrooms not altogether a success); brown and wild rice salad with dried cherries, broccoli, fried onions, edamame, this dressing; a beetroot, green bean, asparagus and goat cheese salad.


Not the best pic but I no longer have the sun-drenched window sill that existed in my previous place :( The sacrifices we make for more closet space...

I also carried the grain mentality through to breakfast the following day. Inspired by the blog "My New Roots" and this recipe, I used leftover quinoa and amaranth, freshly cooked teff and some creativity to make a mixed grain oatmeal. It was delicious but won't be everyone's cup of tea. Try it using whatever grains you feel like using or have on hand-millet, farro, brown rice, etc. I added some orange zest and juice, cinnamon and honey to mine. Go grain or go home!