Pat Eby

Kitchen Economies. Small Appliances, Gadgets, Pots and Pans for Less

I keep a running list in my purse of kitchen gadgets and small appliances I'd like to have. I look for new, in the box, never used or lightly used items at thrift stores to make my income stretch further. My stainless steel pots and pans came from thrift, all with lids, most under four dollars. I’ve found a Cuisinart ice-cream maker, a bread machine, a hand-held chopper, a popover pan and a Microplane grater, all under ten dollars, all never-used, still in the original packaging, with instruction books.

This fall, I looked for a yogurt maker. I love yogurt, especially plain, tart Greek yogurt, but I don’t like paying upwards of a dollar per half-cup at the store. In the 1980s, I used a Salton yogurt maker for three or four years.

I wasn’t particularly thrifty. The homemade yogurt tasted better to me than store-bought. It didn’t have unpronounceable additives, fillers or gelatin. The re-usable cups with the tight-fitting lids didn’t take up landfill space. The yogurt maker made the process nearly fool-proof and easy.

For some reason, I stopped making homemade yogurt. My yogurt maker went off to Goodwill. Yogurt was no longer a regular part of my diet.

Fast-forward thirty years. I’ve resolved to eat healthy foods and exercise to lose weight, build bone density, keep my heart healthy and lower my blood sugar. A daily yogurt fix is part of my diet. 'Yogurt maker' went on my thrift list. In October, I found a Salton Yogurt maker, new in the box, for six dollars. I love my new Salton, too.

So, make a list of things you need in the kitchen. Research brands, features and prices online. Keep it with you for thrift shopping and add up the savings.

To see how much I love my new Salton yogurt maker, visit my healthy eating blog, Pat Eby, a Food Writer Skinnies Up. Read how to make yogurt cheese, or try this fast and easy yogurt breakfast. Good shopping. Good eating.

 

 

 

I Say It's My Birthday

Illustration by Pat Eby, copyright 2011 

When I was a kid, I counted the days each August until my birthday, so anxious was I to grow up. Friends similarly age-encumbered tell me they harbor mixed feelings about their natal day.

Some sail through on puffs of candle smoke and stay sweet as buttercream frosting throughout. Others grouse weeks before, because “there’s nothing to celebrate.” More than a few prefer to forget the day. To the grouses and the glum ones I say, “Grow up. You’re entirely too old to complain.”

What’s so bad about living long enough to understand the world doesn’t revolve around you? It’s freeing to pass sixty years and realize it’s a slip-and-slide to the finish, unless you live in some goat-herding village, swill kefir and eat garlic daily so you can live to a hundred and fifty. To do what? Watch goats gambol?

Here’s some advice 

Those over sixty should give advice sparingly because nobody likes an old know-it-all.

Love yourself. If you’ve lived this long and nobody has killed you, it can’t be too hard.

Strengthen bonds within your family, if it isn’t too dysfunctional. Or, make money off them like Augusten Burroughs did with his tell-all memoir.

Surround yourself with good friends. Make sure some of them aren’t anything like you so you remember we all have different gifts.

Make dates with yourself and keep them. Find joy in solitude.

Do the things you enjoy. Don’t put off fun. Make time.

See new things, read new books, hear new sounds. When we create new memories, we’re not boring friends and family with re-runs. Plus, new pictures, sounds and feelings add to our inner slide show.

Have you heard this? Every old person holds the image of a younger self inside his or her aging body. Now I know why my dad nearly sparkled when he took his best girl, my mom, out on a date. She drove. He couldn’t see a thing, but in his mind’s eye, he was one handsome devil, and a remarkably pretty woman pushed his wheelchair.

Keep your mind and heart open to the possibility of love. Need I say more?

If you make a mistake now, you’ll have less time to regret it. Plus, you’ll probably forgive yourself sooner.

Remember, it’s never too late to give in to temptation. Start with your birthday cake.That wasn’t the image I conjured when I thought about temptation, but it’s a start. Take an end piece. Hell, put ice cream on it.

Celebrate, enjoy.  See yourself reflected in the good wishes of friends.

You say it’s your birthday?

Happy birthday to you!!

 

 

 

 

Kohlrabi and Kielbasa

Keenly green kohlrabi comes to farmers’ markets in St. Louis mid-May and stays through early summer. Three bulbs lustrous and smooth, the supple stems pulled tight into an ersatz ponytail of leaves held tight in a jaunty red rubberband, the spring kohlrabi from Scharf’s Farm nearly leapt into my bag at Soulard Market in St. Louis.

I’d never cooked  or eaten kohlrabi until  I wrote about it for Sauce Magazine in 2009, so it’s relatively new in my diet. Raw, kohlrabi add crunch and an unexpected quiet spice note to salads. Kohlrabi mixed with the new super-crisp apples in equal parts sharpens the sweetness of a classic Waldorf salad. Cooked, it behaves like a cousin to potatoes. It creams, cooks in soups and mashes with butter. Very versatile. 

This year, a recipe from Bert Greene’s Greene on Greens cookbook for a warm kohlrabi and smoked sausage salad caught my attention. I’d been looking for an excuse to buy the artisan kielbasa from The Farmer’s Larder, a new local chaucuterie established by the Matoushek mother-and-son tag team in the summer of 2010. Grass fed beef, pasture raised pork, peppercorns and spices, hickory smoked, fully cooked and in a natural casing, too. What’s not to like? 

 Of course, I tweaked the recipe, but Bert led me in the right direction. The dish, similar to a vinegar-y German potato salad, crosses into the unexpected, courtesy of kohlrabi and the too-good-to-miss kielbasa from the Matoushek’s. For more on The Farmer’s Larder, check out Andrew Veety’s blog and this blog post at The Riverfront Times by Holly Fann.

Warm Kohlrabi, Kielbasa and Potato Salad

Yield: 6 servings

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1 large Vidalia onion, cut in half and sliced in thin slivers

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

3 kohlrabi bulbs, 3-inches or less in diameter, a little over a pound

6 red new potatoes, 2 to 3-inches in diameter

3 tablespoons dry white wine or vermouth

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons smooth Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 pound kielbasa, sliced on the diagonal

Fresh coarsely ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh chives, snipped in half-inch pieces

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon butter in an 8-inch skilled over medium heat until warm. Add the sliced onions and stir to coat. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and stir. Allow the onions to cook over low heart, stirring occasionally, until the onions are brown and carmelized.
2. Trim kohlrabi of stems and leaves. Cut off the woody bottom and slice the top. Rest the bulb on the cutting board and peel with a sharp knife, paring off the green or purple outer skin from the top to halfway down the bulb. Turn the bulb over, and pare the remaining skin. Slice the bulbs in half lengthwise, then cut into half-moon slices about ¼-inch thick.
3. Place the kohlrabi in a 3-quart saucepan, cover with cold water to 2 inches over the slices, add the salt and cook, uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Wash and dice red potatoes in ¾-inch cubes. Leave skin on. Add the diced red potatoes to the pot with the kohlrabi 15 minutes after the start of cooking. Cook until just tender. Drain kohlrabi and potatoes and set aside.
5. Whisk together the wine, vinegar, Dijon mustard and sea salt. Add 1/3 cup of olive oil, drizzling the oil in a steady stream into the wine mixture, whisking constantly.
6. Pour the mixed dressing over warm kohlrabi and potatoes and stir gently with a wooden spoon to coat.
7. Heat 1 tablespoon unsalted butter in a skillet. Add the kielbasa slices and brown on both sides.
8. Plate individual salads with the potato/kohlrabi mix on the bottom. Add carmelized onions to one side of the plate. Coarsely grind pepper over the top. Add the chopped chives. Top with sliced kielbasa and serve warm.

Note: This salad tastes great the next day, cold or warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Thrift Store Pick: Made in Japan Bluebird Plates

Sometimes I get a break and find something so perfect shopping thrift. Fifty cents each and these babies came home with me. Just two, but what nice irisdescent hand-painted 1930s bluebird plates. They make me smile.

Onesies and twosies provide choices when I photograph food for recipes and blog posts. My limited edition collectibles set a fun lunch or dinner table for two or three guests, too.

I keep a stock of mis-matched vintage linens in my dining room buffet to pair with my odd plates, cups, glasses and bowls. Not starched, not even ironed, the vintage print cloths drape soft over the edge of the table. Napkins nestle in laps and meals takes on a comfortable gentility in the middle of a busy, work-at-home day.

The day the bluebirds came to roost in my cabinet, I made an egg salad, smooth and creamy, piquant with white pepper. Snipped chives from the back yard and a great bread from A and M Bakery on Bayless Road (in St. Louis) served on bluebird plates kept me going all afternoon.

I don't have a secret, great recipe for egg salad, but fresh eggs from farmers' markets taste better to me. Here's a recipe printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for an egg salad with twice the yolks. Next time, I'll try this recipe. I'll use white pepper again. 

 

 

Rhubarb: Tart, Red, and Luscious

Rhubarb season’s short and sweet in Missouri, spanning mid-May to mid-June. Field-grown rhubarb at local farmers’ markets shines so riotously red it almost looks other-worldly. Botanically, rhubarb’s a vegetable, but most folks eat rhubarb as a fruit, often combined with spring’s sweet strawberries and a fair amount of sugar to cut the mouth-puckering tartness.

I grew up with rhubarb stewed to a pallid browness, a disappointing change from the cherry red stalks with palest green centers we children saw grandmother put in the pot. In 2008, I tried roasting rhubarb when I wrote an article for the Seasonal Shopper in Sauce Magazine. Allelujah, the red stayed put. I've roasted ever since.

A recipe at The Wednesday Chef blog by Luisa Weiss helped me tweak my roasted rhubarb until it’s perfect. A link to Amanda Hesser’s Stalk of the Town article  from the New York Times has me eager to try new recipes with amazing rhubarb. Hesser’s blog, Food 52, has great rhubarb recipes for jams and preserves, too. The research sent me flying to the cookbook section of the St. Louis Public Library for cookbooks from England, where rhubarb makes a spicier splash. More on the River Cottage Every Day cookbook I checked out later. 

I roast three pounds of rhubarb at a time and eat it throughout the week. Chop it into yogurt or bake it in tea breads and muffins. Pureé some for a fruit sauce. Stir it into homemade ice cream recipes. Try it as a relish combined with raisins, ginger and pecans. Start with the basic roasted rhubarb recipe below, then experiment. Hurry. Mid-June comes all too quickly.

Visit farmer Allen Hagemann at Soulard Market to buy some of the best. Choose thinner stalks for the tenderest cuts, about one inch across at the widest part. Look for crisp stalks that don’t bend with few blemishes.

A note of caution: rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid and can be toxic. Don’t eat them, pretty as they look. 

Roasted Rhubarb with Orange and Vanilla

Yield: 6 to 7 cups

 

3 pounds rhubarb, stems only

2 medium navel oranges

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon raw sugar (3 tablespoons per pound of rhubarb)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
• Wash and trim the leaves and the root end of each stalk. Slice the stalks into 2 ½” pieces for stalks 1” and under. Cut thicker stalks in smaller pieces so all stalks cook evenly. I like to slice them on the diagonal. It cuts easiest for me when I turn the stalks on the sides. Place all cut rhubarb in a large mixing bowl.
• Zest each orange over the bowl. Cut the oranges in half and ream the juices out over the bowl of cut rhubarb.
• Add the raw sugar and the vanilla. Toss to coat.
• Spoon the cut rhubarb into two 11” x 13” x 2” baking pans. Make a single layer. Divide the juices and pour half over each pan. Scrape any sugar and zest from the bowl and add.
• Cover pans with aluminum foil. Roast for 15 minutes.
• Remove foil and roast an additional 10 minutes. Remove pans to wire racks to cool. Put rhubarb in covered containers, pour any juices from pan over the pieces, and refrigerate until ready to use. 

Did I mention rhubarb plants can be beautiful? The stalks deep red, the large ruffled leaves blue-green, the plant grows in a graceful rounded shape, leaves pin-wheeled from the center, standing two to three feet tall. When St. Louisan Kirk Hughes toured the formal gardens at Versailles, he spotted a familiar form in the parterres. “I thought it looked like rhubarb,” said Hughes, “and it was. The whole backdrop of the planting was magnificent, tall red rhubarb.”

 

 

 

Fleeting Pleasures: Locally Foraged Morels

Where: From The Mushroom Man, John Davis, Stand 17 at Soulard Market in St. Louis

When:  Saturdays only, beginning at 7 a.m. Mid-to-Late April, 2011

Morels won't be here once the warm weather hits, so gather ye mushrooms while ye may in the cold damp of a Missouri April. Don't blanch at the price. Somebody else tromped the woods hunting them for you to enjoy. The complex flavor of the morels can't be matched. I like them best cooked simply, with butter.

If you crave something a bit more adventurous check out these recipes from Midwest Living for Beef with Morel-Bourbon Cream Sauce or Hearty Chicken with Mushrooms.

The Kitchen Conservatory offers morel classes as well, but you’ll need to plan ahead for next year. This April, classes taught by chefs Josh Galliano of Monarch and Eric Kelly of Scape filled. Just reading the class descriptions will cause you to slaver.   

Spinach at the Maplewood Farmers’ Market, mid-April 2011

Make This: Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

The looks, smells, and tastes of locally grown leafy spinach makes for some great eating at the local markets. You’ll find baby spinach, tiny and mild, from YellowTree Farm. Owners Justin and Danielle Leszcz are new to the Maplewood market, but they’ve been rocking the food scene supplying local chefs with tasty product for the past two years.

 

 

Amy Cloud of Three Rivers Community Farm sold a hoop house grown spinach, tender and sweet. I chose her overwintered spinach, a crinkly, lush leaf with a sweet, assertive taste that delivers a heft and a bounce in your mouth. Try it in salads or plunk a few leaves on a sandwich. A friend overwintered spinach a few years back and I was delighted to discover the intense flavor and highly textured leaves.

I paired the overwintered spinach with dry-cured bacon from Lucien Matoushek of The Farmer’s Larder for Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing. I used this recipe from The Farmer’s Larder website. The only tweak: I made more dressing, increasing the bacon and the cider vinegar to 4 tablespoons and the sugar to ¾ teaspoon.

The bacon, thick and aromatic, fried up crisp in no time. The taste is complex, sweet and salty, the texture perfect, the cooked onions and garlic inspired. Plus, my house smelled great all evening.

Buy This:

• Dry-cured bacon from The Farmer’s Larder
• Fresh, darkly green spinach of your choice
• Farm-fresh eggs from Livesprings Farm
• Artisan bread from the bakery of your choice: Black Bear Bakery, Companion Bakery, 4 Seasons Bakery or the St. Louis University School of Nutrition

From Your Pantry:

• Cider vinegar
• Sugar
• Garlic
• Red onion
• Salt and pepper

In Your Fridge:

• Great butter for the bread

Asparagus Quiche. a Recipe Perfect for Spring Brunch, Lunch or Dinner

Sometimes even food writers have not-so-successful cooking experiences. Last weekend the quiche I made with Scharf Farm's great asparagus just didn’t quite work, so I bought more Scharf asparagus at Soulard Market on April 16th to try again.

Here’s another shortcoming I suffer in the cooking department. Tender, flaky pie crust eludes me. I use Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts for my quiche and pie endeavors for now. Unrolling the crust into the 9” pie pan and crimping the edges works just fine, thank you.

This quiche is rich and flavorful, plus it's easy and painless to make. My first attempt at asparagus quiche produced a watery custard, so I tinkered with roasting the asparagus rather than parboiling it, adding a different mix of cheeses, and tinkering with proportions. I still ate the first quiche, it just wasn't good enough to share. In cooking, as in life, what we learn from our failures is often most instructive.

Asparagus should be at the markets until mid-May, but don’t wait. The taste is too delicious to miss.

Look for more on the gorgeous spinach and red bud garnish in my next post.

 

Asparagus and Roasted Red Pepper Quiche

Serves 8

• 12 fresh aspargus spears
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 shallots
• 1 roasted red pepper, peeled or jarred roasted red peppers
• 1 cup coarsely grated Gruyére cheese
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 9” pie crust, unbaked
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups half and half
• 1/2  teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

•  
  1. Preheat the  broiler.
  2. Break or trim the woody stems off the asparagus. Lightly peel the stalks to within 1” of the tips. Run the spears under cold water, pat dry with a paper towel. Place the spears on a cookie sheet (without non-stick coating) and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle sea salt on the oiled spears and toss again.
  3. Arrange the spears in a line down the center of the cookie sheet to fit under the broiler flame. Place under the broiler for 3 minutes. Remove the sheet, turn the spears and broil an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Remove spears from the sheet to cool. I put them on my cutting board. When cool, slice stalks diagonally in 1/2” pieces. Leave tips intact. Set aside.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  5. Peel, then cut the shallots in quarters lenghthwise. Slice thinly. Pour the remaning olive oil in a 6” skillet over medium low heat. Add shallots and toss to coat. Cook until translucent, turning often.
  6. Cut the peppers into 1/2” pieces.
  7. Place the crust in a 9” pie pan. I use a glass pie pan and I keep the oven temp at 350.
  8. Arrange the shallots across the bottom of the crust. Next, add the peppers, evenly distributed followed by the asparagus pieces.
  9. In a small bowl, mix the two cheeses together, then distribute evenly over the vegetables.
  10. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Next, stir in the half and half until well combined. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg.
  11. Pour half the egg and half & half mixture over the top and allow it to settle. Pour in the remaining mixture slowly. Don’t overfill.
  12. Bake 60 to 75 minutes until the quiche is firm and the top is lightly browned. The quiche puffs up in the oven, but as it cools, it settles into the pie crust.
  13. Cool on a wire rack 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make This: Tagliatelle with Sautéed Asparagus, a Post-Market Lunch

When I come home from spring markets, I'll usually cook a pasta with asparagus. Quick, sassy and delicious, this recipe showcases the distinctive flavor of fresh asparagus. It's an adaptation of the classic Spaghetti a la Olio I've cooked for twenty years or more. Use the basic recipe and change up the recipes as spring yields to summer. Peas, beans, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes work great, too

I re-read Bert Greene’s section about asparagus in Greene on Greens before I chose the recipes for these posts. Greene is my go-to guy for vegetables. The wear on my cookbook shows how much I love it. Although I didn't select one from the book, I’m ready to try Asparagus and Shrimp Salad, Asparagus Risotto, and Asparagus a la Holstein, a dish of sunny-side up eggs over asparagus with a thin butter sauce of capers and lemons topped with grated Reggiano Parmigiano. I think I'll substitute poached eggs. I can taste it now, egg yolks and sauce sopped with toasted bread and crisp-tender asparagus.

I learned to cook vegetables reading Greene's book. Plus, he writes so well I can see, smell and taste the food from the words on the page. He inspired me to write about food in the context of lives, cultures and stories. For more on Greene, check out food historian Barbara Haber’s lovely post on the blog Daily Zester, the Culture of Food and Wine. He's worth the effort.

From Greene, I learned to break rather than cut spears and to peel stalks before you wash them. Greene favored stalks ‘no thicker than a fat crayon’ but I’ll sometimes buy the thicker ½” stalks when I want a stronger flavor. Unload the market bags, put away the food and settle in to this delightful lunch.

Tagliatelle with Sautéed Asparagus

Serves 2

• 4 nests (2 servings) tagliatelle or linguini
• ½ teaspoon kosher or table salt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled and finely minced
• 12 spears fresh asparagus
• 2 pats unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup chicken or vegetable stock/broth
• Hard cheese like Reggiano Parmigiano, pecorino, Romano or Asiago
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Bring 3 quarts of cold water salted with ½ teaspoon kosher or table salt to a brisk boil.
2. While the water is coming to temperature, bend each spear to break off the woody end. Hold the ends, bend, and the spear will break at the tender spot. Peel the tough outer coating very thinly, stopping 1” short of the tips. I find this easiest with a sharp vegetable peeler. Cut the stalks on a diagonal in pieces 1 ½” long. Leave the tips intact.
3. Heat the olive oil in an 8” non-stick skillet over medium low heat for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add the minced garlic and cook for 4 minutes. Add the cut asparagus and stir gently to coat with oil. Cook over low heat for 4 additional minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the pasta nests to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions for time. The Delverde tagliatelle I used cooked in just under 8 minutes. Time your cooking steps to the pasta finish for best results.
5. Shave the cheese for topping your pasta. The vegetable peeler works great for this. I used Romano because it’s what I had in the fridge.
6. Raise the heat to medium low under the asparagus, add the chicken and cook for 4 minutes more, stirring often. Turn off heat and cover, venting the cover
7. Drain the pasta, then toss with butter to coat. Plate the cooked pasta. Spoon the asparagus in the center. Top with shaved cheese.
8. Serve with half a mini-baguette and butter.

 

Asparagus. Fresh, Local and Just Too Good. April 2011

Where: Soulard Market; St. Louis

Buy This:

I've been waiting for my rite of spring, the first post-market lunch of pasta with garlic and sautéed asparagus from Scharf Farm at Soulard Market. It’s time, and the asparagus delivers. Fresh, intensely flavorful, crisp spears with tightly capped tips wait in glorious red-banded bunches for eager cooks like me. You’ll find asparagus at St. Louis markets from early April through early June. Look for the Make This recipes following this post. Check your pantry and fridge to see what else you'll need.

Buy This:

• Two bunches of just-harvested asparagus spears, brightly green and lush, from Scharf Farm on the northeast wing of the market at stands 37 and 38.
• A dozen brown jumbo free-range eggs from Haar farms, home of the happy chickens, on the northeast wing just inside the entry from the market building.
• Mini-baguettes, soft inside, crusty outside from Soulard Bakery.
• Fresh whole nutmegs plus a grater, if you don’t have one, from Soulard Spice Shop.

Make These Dishes:

 

• Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Garlic
• Asparagus Quiche
• Boston Lettuce with Steamed Asparagus in a Lemon Vinaigrette

What You Need From Your Pantry:

• Tagliatelle or linguini
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 small banana shallots
• Jarred or fresh roasted red peppers
• White Wine or Cider Vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper

What You Need in Your Fridge:

• Hard cheese like Reggianno Parmiagiano, Pecorino or Asiago
• A mild, easy-to-melt cheese like Gruyére, fontina or shredded mozzarella
• Butter
• Half and half
• Flat leaf Italian parsley
• Everything to make a good pie crust or a ready-to-bake pie crust 
• Two small heads Boston lettuce
• Dijon or champagne mustard
• A lemon