AeroGarden Update

Everything has sprouted!  It’s very exciting.  I noticed that the sprouts on one side of the garden (the chives, cilantro, and dill) were growing kind of sideways and was very perplexed for a day or so.  After all, the garden is nowhere near a window, and even if it was, none of my windows get any light to speak of (I live in a cave of an apartment).  Then one morning I saw the lightbulb on that side flickering when it turned on – aha!  I pushed it back into place any everything is growing straight and tall!

Tuscan Soup

We had leftover kale ragout (from Kale with Polenta)from last night, and I just couldn’t let it go, so I made a nice hearty soup with it.  It was a great quick weeknight dinner.

2½ -3 cups kale ragout

1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)

4-5 cups vegetable stock

1/3 cup chopped parsley

 

Heat all ingredients except parsley in a medium soup pot over medium-low heat until just heated through.  Add parsley just before serving.  Serve with crusty bread

Kale with Polenta

I’ll say it: I don’t like cooked greens. No spinach, chard, collard, mustard… nothing. But I know they’re good for me, so when I saw a giant mound of kale at the farmers’ market, I decided to give it a go.

I decided against just sauteing the kale and serving it on the side of something – too hardcore for a first-timer like myself. The man at the farmers’ market said something about polenta when I bought the kale, so I started with that. Then I used onion, garlic, tomatoes, and the kale to make a ragout to serve on top. I have to say, it was pretty tasty.

½ cup polenta

2 cups water

1 tsp salt

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

2-3 Tbls. Extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium to large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch red pepper flakes

28 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 bunch kale, stems removed and torn into ½-1 inch pieces

Bring the water to a boil over high heat and add the polenta and salt. Wisk to blend. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally until the polenta starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 10-15 minutes. Transfer into a baking dish, top with parmesan, and bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Let set for at least 10 minutes. In a large pan, sauté the onion in the olive oil until soft. Do not brown. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, breaking up the tomato with a spatula if desired. Add the kale and cook for 1-2 minutes. Serve over the polenta.

AeroGarden, Days 5&6

Things are starting to sprout! The chives look really great – I took off their lid today. The only 2 herbs that don’t have visible sprouts are the cilantro and the parsley.

Creative Uses for a Cupcake Stand

When I opened my cupcake stand on Christmas morning, my first thought was, “How Cool!” My second thought was, “Where in the world am I going to keep this?” My San Francisco kitchen, while large, has extraordinarily limited storage space. So I got to work thinking of a way to make it useful on an everyday basis.

My first thought was to use it to display travel souvenirs and keep it in the living room.

Kinda cool. But then where do you put all of the tchotchkes when you actually want to use the cupcake stand for… I don’t know… cupcakes?

Then I hit on this idea -

use it for pantry produce! I usually keep all of my lemons, limes, shallots, onions, garlic, etc. in a big bowl on the kitchen table, which I’m sure doesn’t help the shelf life of any of them. I’m not too worried about the onions and garlic, but I know I could use a better way to store my citrus. It will also help me remember to buy more when I’m running low.

Other ideas? Candle holder? Hors d’oeuvres when I have a fancy party? What have you used your cupcake stand for?

AeroGardern, Days 1 & 2

I have been wanting an AeroGarden for forever. I hate buying fresh herbs at the regular grocery store. They tend to be expensive, they don’t last very long, it’s hard to find organic ones, and they usually have too much packaging for my taste. So I was super excited to get one for Christmas from my mom.

The AeroGarden comes with an herb seed kit – cilantro, chives, two kinds of basil, parsley, mint, and dill. I really with there was some thyme thrown into the mix, but we’ll see how much I use the included herbs. I set it up yesterday; it was really easy and took about 5 minutes. Filled it with water, popped in the nutrient tablets, turned on the light, and I was in business! I’m a little concerned because the nutrient tablets didn’t seem dissolve completely, even on day 2.

New Year, New Blog

Welcome to my new blog, Albo Can Cook!.  I’ve been inspired to write about my adventures and mishaps in home cookery by an abundence of cooking-related Christmas gifts and endless conversations about what I’m working on in the kitchen with friends and coworkers.  I hope that this can serve as entertainment and information for anyone interested in cooking or food in general.

Alicia