Edible Portland Blog

ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 7-8 PM, Canadian couple Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon will be appearing at Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing to discuss their new book, PLENTY: ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN, AND A RAUCOUS YEAR OF EATING LOCALLY. PLENTY details the couple's inspiring adventures throughout their year-long experiment to eat foods grown and produced within 100 miles of their home. Read more about the book, the diet, and the couple at their website: 100milediet.org.

Ecotrust's Food & Farms program and Edible Portland are co-sponsors of this event. Join us! 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR 97005

MIXED GREEN SALAD WITH TILLAMOOK WHITE CHEDDAR AND HAZELNUTS From The Portland Clinic

1 large shallot
1 tsp canola oil
3/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup hazelnut oil
Salt and pepper

1/4 lb Tillamook white cheddar cheese
1 lb assorted mixed greens, such as frisee, arugula, radicchio, spinach, beet greens and mustard greens
1/4 lb red seedless grapes
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

To make vinaigrette:
1. Toss shallot in canola oil and fold into a foil packet. Roast in oven at 350 degrees until soft and lightly caramelized.
2. Place shallot in blender with vinegar and blend until smooth.
3. With blender running, add hazelnut oil slowly to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For salad:
1. Cut cheese into 1/2-inch cubes.
2. Toss salad greens with grapes and vinaigrette.
3. Arrange on plate and garnish with cheese and hazelnuts.

Written by Jean Johnson
For Spring 2007

MOST EVERYONE KNOWS that egg-laying hens on large corporate farms don’t have the greatest lives. But few realize these birds are among the most abused animals in the world of factory farming. Nearly 300 million chickens in the United States—95 percent of the laying hen population—are confined in batteries of cages stacked 10 high in huge barns. These birds have less room than a standard-sized sheet of paper and cannot even flap their wings.

When it comes to doing unto our animals, America lags light years behind Europe. Sweden abolished all confined animal farming back in 1988, and the European Union is now moving in a similar direction. We’re coming along, though. After the Humane Society of the United States publicized Ben and Jerry’s use of eggs from caged hens, the ice cream maker pledged to shift to cage-free eggs in the U.S. beginning in 2007. “We’ve used cage-free eggs in our UK plant for some time,” says Ben and Jerry’s public relations Grand Poobah, Sean Greenwood. “In Europe, mainstream consumers have an appreciation of where their food is sourced from.”

One problem with sourcing in the United States is labeling designations—which, with eggs, can run the gamut. While cage-free refers to hens that have the run of the chicken barn, organic eggs requires that the birds have access to outside pasture. That said, many Portland-area growers are small enough to circumvent formal regulations and use their personal integrity to attest to humane treatment.

Written by Ellen Jackson
For Spring 2007

YOU SAY HORSEBEAN, I say tickbean. You say broad bean, I say Windsor bean. You say faba, I say fava. Cultivation of the vicia faba, or fava bean, dates back so far that its wild form is uncertain today.

Found in some of the earliest known human settlements, the legume’s long, rich history begins in the Neolithic Middle East (think Lebanon) where botanists believe it was first domesticated. Favas have been used in Chinese cooking for at least 5,000 years and made gastronomic film history in 1991, when Hannibal Lechter, who was “having an old friend for dinner,” included them in his disturbing menu.

But fava beans haven’t always been a foodstuff. Pythagoras, the sixth-century Greek philosopher, believed they contained the souls of the dead and forbade their consumption, while Greeks and Romans used them as ballots in magisterial elections—a black bean for ‘nay,’ a fava for ‘yea.’ They even suggested a namesake for one of four distinguished Roman families with legume-inspired monikers: Fabius (fava), Lentulus (lentil), Piso (pea) and Cicero (chickpea). A Fab(a) Four, if you will.

Chef Josh Blythe shares with us a delectable recipe using local sole and Oregon Dungeness crab. Most recently executive chef at Roux, Josh is now an instructor at the Oregon Culinary Institute.

Learn more about OCI and its fine-dining restaurant here: www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com.

STRAWBERRY-CURRANT JAM
From Harriet Fasenfest, Preserve

Makes 4 half pints

2 cups currants
1 cup water
1 qt strawberries (about 4 cups crushed)
3 cups sugar

Combine currants and water in a pot to make currant pulp. Cook 10 minutes to soften. Press mixture through a food mill or a sieve to remove the seeds.

Put strawberries, sugar, and currant pulp in a large saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Raise temperature and bring to a boil. Cook until thick, approximately 10 minutes. Stir occasionally midway through cooking to prevent scorching. Test for gel using one of the techniques listed on Preserve’s website: portlandpreserve.com.

Pour hot jam into clean jars leaving a quarter-inch head space. Cover with lids and rings and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. If you are going to keep it in the fridge or freezer just let cool overnight before storing.

STRAWBERRY JAM WITH FROZEN BERRIES AND HOMEMADE PECTIN
From Harriet Fasenfest, Preserve

Makes 4 pints

Use berries that have been dry packed (frozen without syrup or sugar) and pre-measured. Try other varieties of berries as well, either alone or in combination.

3 cups frozen strawberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup water or fruit juice (optional)

In a large saucepan, bring ingredients to a slow simmer over very low heat to render juice from the berries (approx. 15 minutes). If you need moisture, add no more than 1/4 cup of liquid to start. Cover and cook slowly until thawed. Use a potato masher to break up the pieces once they are soft.

Remove lid and add 1/2 cup strong homemade apple pectin. (See recipe here.)

Bring ingredients to a boil and cook for approximately 20 minutes. You can skim off the foam while boiling, but it is not necessary. Stir mixture occasionally to prevent scorching on the bottom.

There are 3 techniques for testing the gel: a jelly thermometer, the spoon method, or the chilled plate method (See portlandpreserve.com.) This will become easier with time. If the jam does not gel, use it as syrup or boil again for continued cooking.

Ladle hot jam into jars leaving a quarter-inch head space. Cover with lids and rings, and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner or store (once cooled) in the fridge or freezer.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer was in Portland recently championing his Local Food and Farm Support Act. The Act is intended to strengthen the local farm economy, make local and healthy food more accessible, help the environment and improve the quality of food served in our public schools. Alright Earl!

Now is a good time to remind the folks in Washington that the Farm Bill is about FOOD. And since we all eat, we all have a stake in the Farm Bill. I sent off an email today. It was really easy. I just followed this link: www.healthyfarmbill.org

Need a refresher course on why any of this matters? Continue reading for Dan Imhoff’s article from Edible Portland, Food Fight 2007: A Citizen's Guide...

SUNDAY, JUNE 3 - DON'T MISS OPENING DAY of this farmers' market, from 9 am to 2 pm. The Lents International Farmers' Market features fruits, vegetables, and foods grown or prepared by Portland area immigrants and refugees.

What's happening this Sunday?
9–10 am | Binnsmead Middle School Marimba Band performs traditional Zimbabwean music
11:30 am–1:30 pm | Starliner, an African reggae band featuring members from Ghana
2–3 pm | Bellismonde dance troupe performs dances of Algeria, Greece, Turkey, and Andalusian Spain

The best part?
Those who arrive first will go home with free vegetable starts for your home garden. Just in time!

The market is located at SE 92nd and Foster. For more information, email Jill Kuehler. See you at the market!

LOUISIANA-STYLE PEACH PIE
From Chef Joseph Carey, In Good Taste Cooking School

Crust
The shortening provides flakiness, while the butter adds flavor.

2 1/3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into pieces
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
6 Tbsp ice water

Sift flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the vinegar. Using fork, mix in enough water to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball, and divide the ball into 2 equal portions. Flatten each portion into disk. Wrap each in plastic; chill at least 1 hour.

Filling
5 lbs medium peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine peaches, sugar, flour and spices in large bowl; toss to mix well. Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to an approximate 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch diameter pie pan. Place peaches in crust, mounding in center. Roll second ball of dough into an approximate 11-inch round. Roll up dough on rolling pin and unroll atop peaches. Trim edges of both crusts to 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edges over; press to seal. Crimp edges. Cut 5 or 6 slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.

Covering edges, bake pie until crust is golden and juices bubble thickly through slits, approximately 1 hour. Cool for an hour or so. Serve with vanilla ice cream and strew candied pecans over all.

Candied Pecans
1 lb pecans
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp water
1 egg white

In one bowl mix sugar, cinnamon and salt. In second bowl, add water and egg white. Beat to a froth. Toss pecans with egg whites until coated. Add to sugar mixture and stir until sugar and pecans are completely coated. Spread nuts on buttered baking sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

PERFECT PEACH PIE
From Ellen Jackson

When it comes to dessert, I’m a card-carrying member of the pie camp. (The other camp, of course, is peopled by cake-eaters.) True, cake has a tireless association with celebrations (weddings, birthdays, retirement parties, graduations) but to underestimate the power of pie to honor life’s finest moments is to do it a grave injustice.

My preference for the humble pie—over cake—to commemorate special occasions is inherited from my grandmother, who marked every last one of her August 31st birthdays with a peach pie, baked by my mother. For me, peach pie will always be the essence of a summer fête, gift-wrapped in flaky pastry.

Flaky pastry for a double-crust, 9-inch pie
1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp water
3 lbs ripe, firm peaches
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Dash vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 Tbsp cornstarch or quick-cooking tapioca
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Large pinch salt
2 Tbsp butter

Roll one-half of the pastry out and use it to line a pie plate leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Cover it lightly with plastic wrap and chill the bottom crust while you prepare the fruit. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Peel, halve and pit the peaches. Slice each half into 3/4-inch thick slices and place them in a medium-sized mixing bowl. You should have about 6 cups of sliced peaches. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over them, and a dash of vanilla.

Toss the sugars with the cornstarch or tapioca, spices and salt and sprinkle evenly over the peaches. Gently stir to combine. Moisture-proof the bottom crust with the egg glaze and slightly mound the fruit in the center. Dot the peach slices with little pieces of the butter.

Roll the other half of the pastry out to make the top crust. Brush the 1/2-inch overhang with the egg glaze and fit the top crust over the fruit. Leave a 3/4-inch overhang and trim away the rest. Fold the top edge under the bottom crust overhang and pinch together to seal. Flute as desired, cut vent holes and brush with the remaining egg glaze. Sprinkle with sugar.

Set the pie in the lower third of the preheated oven and bake 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350, raise the pie to the center of the oven and continue baking 35-45 more minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly. Cover the crust with foil strips if it browns too quickly.

Cool on a rack and wait several hours until serving—if you can.

A FEW LUCKY SOULS in the Ecotrust office got to see advanced copies yesterday. Several of them were perplexed. “Peaches aren’t in season!” they told us, like we were totally off our rocker to have peaches on the cover of the summer issue. (a) Hooray that they even know when peaches are and are not in season!! Hats off to them for paying attention. (b) Our summer issue covers June, July AND August, when peaches are, in fact, in season.

So there.

The cover gives you something to look forward to.

For those of you searching for ways to use up those flats of berries you just bought on a whim at the farmers' market, not to worry. Harriet Fasenfest writes about jam making in this issue of Edible Portland. Here are a few extra recipes that she submitted but didn't make it to print. And remember, you can always glean great preserving tips and techniques from Harriet's website: portlandpreserve.com.

STRAWBERRY-CURRANT JAM

STRAWBERRY JAM WITH FROZEN BERRIES AND HOMEMADE PECTIN