Food Adventures

My desire for learning about small scale farming/gardening came about mostly in my environmental, health, and culinary passions. All of them continue to grow.

I really enjoy making good food, and thanks to parents, friends, mentors, authors, and time, I've become fairly good at it.

Much time here at Bee Heaven is spent focused on food. With no distractions of television, homework, or social engagements, I spend a large chunk of my spare time exploring food in the kitchen. Here are a few things in process:

Daily Bread: I am the bread baker, using the no-knead recipe of Jim LeHay, thanks to Dr. Kirby's gift to me a year ago. I mix a dough of flour (half and half King Arthur Bread and Whole Wheat), salt, dry yeast, and water in the evening right before going to bed. Then after work the next day I shape the dough into a loaf, let it rest another hour and a half, and bake it in a Dutch Oven for 50 minutes. The bread is delicious and simple. My fellow workers still have a hard time being the first to cut the loaf. They feel the baker should have the honor of the first slice. They don't realize that I have been making this bread for at least a year now . . . I'm pretty used to it.

Tonight's Stew: I put some black beans to soak this morning and this evening made a stew. The ingredients include, but are not limited to; olive oil, tomatoes (that were aging fast), black beans in their cooking stock, turnips, eggplant, chives, left over sauteed beans and greens, some hummus, water, pickle brine, sage, salt, and pepper. The cooking stock of black beans is very dark and it unfortunately makes the whole stew murky. Still, it was delicious and I served it with slabs of my bread slathered with olive oil and garlic and toasted in the oven.

Kimchi: We had a mounded tote of bok choy that was getting too old to do anything with two weeks ago, so I tried kimchi. I washed and salted the leaves, let them sit for 24 hours under a weight, then rinsed them and packed them into a jar with spices: onion, garlic, hot pepper, orange rind, and honey. When I got some fresh ginger a few days ago, I put that in as well. The kimchi has been fermenting in the brine squeezed out of it with packing, and it really does smell wonderful. I've been munching on it, finding the salt too strong and not enough spice in the flavor. Hopefully with some time things will mellow out . . . Margie suggested adding some more hot pepper and turnip and radish pieces. The roots would soak up some salt, and the pepper would add spice. Maybe I'll get around to that.

Eggplant Pickles: I am reading "Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live Culture Food" by Sandor Ellix Katz. Through this book I am learning about preserving all kinds of food using fermentation. Most vegetables can be pickled using salt and their own brine made by the salt drawing out water. With time bacteria comes into the picture and creates cultures that sour, flavor, and ultimately nurture the human eater. So, this week when we pulled out a bunch of eggplants with some questionable spots, I cleaned, trimmer, and cut them into pieces, packed them with salt and seasonings: garlic chives, onion, and red pepper: and am now waiting to see what happens. Another term for my creation may be "Eggplant Kimchi," but I think that's using a little too much imagination. Same principle, though.

Sourdough Starter: I am ready, I believe, to dive into sourdough bread again. I want to use the same no-knead method using wild yeasts instead of commercial yeast. I do not know if this will work, but am going to try. Tonight I mixed a cup of flour with a cup of water in a jar and am going to let it sit for a few days to attract wild yeast. When bubbles and yeastie beastie smells start rising, I'll feed the starter once a day. Maybe within a week I'll be able to experiment with using the starter instead of the dry yeast in my bread recipe. There is a great bread chapter in John Thorne's book "Outlaw Cook" which I will often refer to in my experiments, along with "Wild Fermentation." And I'll make other wonderful sourdough treats like pancakes and Ethiopian flat bread.

Hurray for food! A fellow baker, originally from Germany, came to the farm tonight with some products for us to sell tomorrow during our "Farm Day.'' I gave him a plate with two slices of bread and some garlic olive oil saying, "Would you like some bread you didn't make? I know that can be a rare experience for a baker." "Oh yes! Thank you!" He "ooo"ed when he smelled it and his face made a fantastically happy expression when he bit into it. He thanked me no less than three times before he left. Feeding appreciative people is over half the joy of being a cook.