Fresh Shelling Beans Available at Farmers' Market

Thank heavens I stopped by the Tomahnous Farm stand a few weeks ago at farmers' market and asked Lisa "what are those?" when I saw some multicolored pods in a basket. Lisa told me they were shelling beans called tongues of fire. She opened a pod and I saw the red-and-white beans in a row inside it. Score! These beans are in the cranberry bean family and are apparently well-loved in Italy, where I've read that they're called borlotti. My friend Simona, of the food blog Briciole, cooked with these very same beans recently, in fact. Aren't they pretty? As you can see, some are almost solid burgundy, whereas others have burgundy streaks on a white background. Even the pods are pretty.

I bought a pound of the unshelled beans, which yielded about 1 1/2 cups shelled. I actually enjoyed shelling the beans while I sat watching TV. It was kind of like knitting—something to do with your hands. It didn't take long at all to do the shelling, and it was oddly satisfying to end up with a pile of beautiful ready-to-cook beans.I braised the beans—along with a bunch of Swiss chard (chopped), some chopped ham, a large chopped shallot and a large clove of chopped garlic—in a good amount of olive oil and a little water. I cooked the mixture, covered, for about an hour and a half, added salt and pepper, and served it with rice. Man, was that good. The beans, though they lost their pretty color, were firm, with a dense, creamy texture and a delightful, almost nutty flavor.

I'm afraid we won't be seeing any more of those beans at the market, as Lisa told me they were done for the season. However, the week after I got those, she had fresh black-eyed peas in the shell. This past weekend, there they were again, and Lisa said there would be more in the coming weeks.I'd purchased already shelled, fresh black-eyed peas once at Schnucks, a long time ago, but normally I just use dried. So again, I was thrilled to have a chance to shell my own. Here's what they look like after shelling. As you can see, some are greenish and others are whitish, depending on how mature they are. Cute little things!This time, I bought a pound and a half of pods, and that got us a little over two cups of shelled black-eyed peas. Here's how I cooked them.

Fresh Black-Eyed Peas with Ham Hock

2 cups shelled fresh black-eyed peas
1 cured ham hock (I used one from Triple S Farm)
1 small hot pepper, sliced into thin strips (I used a habañero-like orange pepper from Tomahnous)
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, including top leaves, chopped
2 bay leaves
About 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
As much Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning as you like, or substitute some cayenne plus salt and black pepper

Chopped pickled jalapeño peppers for topping, if you dare

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan (I used a 3-quarter) with enough water to cover the beans by a couple inches. Bring almost to a boil, partially cover, and simmer for 1 hour.

Remove the ham hock from the pot, and, when cool enough to work with, cut the meat off the bone, chop it, add it back to the pot, and heat through.

Serve hot, topped with chopped pickled jalapeño peppers and/or chopped green onions, on top of steamed rice. Boiled greens are great on the side, as is a simple spinach salad dressed with olive oil and white-wine vinegar.If you like ham and beans as much as we do Chez CT, I urge you to try a ham hock from Triple S Farm (you'll find their stand along the south side of the Urbana farmers' market). You can't believe how much meat is on those hocks! And the flavor is so delicious, really very different from the ham hocks you get at the grocery store.

La Luna Cafe

Food—Lebanese, Italian, Greek, and American
Drink—Wine, beer, sodas, Turkish coffee, slushies (with or without alcohol)
Location—That little town east of C-U
Average prices—Apps: $10.00; Salads: $5.00; Sandwiches: $6.00; Entrées: $10.00; Desserts: $5.50
Atmosphere best for—Casual lunch, dinner for two or a group
Child friendly—Yes; there's a kids' menu
Vegetarian friendly—Yes
Service—Needs some work
Outdoor seating—Yes; there are a couple of tables out front where you can sit and keep tabs on the goings-on in St. Joe

Now, don't become confused. I don't mean Luna, formerly Luna Café on campus and now bistro in the old train station. No, I'm talking about a place that's just about a year old in Saint Joseph, IL. Did you even know there was a Mediterranean café in St. Joe? And that it's attached to a liquor store??Wow. A person couldn't buy a six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine in St. Joe until last year, and now here's a liquor store and a restaurant serving shish kebabs and baba ganoush! Things may be moving too fast. Is St. Joe ready for this?! Only time will tell.

I visited a couple of times recently, and, being an aficionado of Middle Eastern food, I ordered from the Lebanese section of the menu on both occasions. The first time I had the combination plate ($12.99): skewers of marinated, grilled chicken and beef (one of each) with kefta (think meatballs if you've never had these), rice, pita bread, and sauces for dipping.Very tasty. The chicken and beef had good flavor and were grilled until tender yet still juicy. The pita were warm and fresh. Thumbs up on this dish.

On that first visit my friends and I also shared appetizers of baba ganoush ($4.99) and stuffed grape leaves ($3.99). If you're not familiar with it, baba ganoush is a dip of eggplant that's been grilled and mixed with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and parsley. Here you can see an action shot of my friend Shirley dipping her pita bread. We all pronounced the baba ganoush a hit as well.We enjoyed the stuffed grape leaves (vegetarian, stuffed with rice), and I'm pretty picky about my grape leaves. It's thrilling to see them offered at an area restaurant, and it was also fabulous that they weren't served ice cold (I've been served grape leaves right out of the fridge at restaurants before, so I was worried; they should be either warm or room temp).The second time I visited, Keith went with me, and we met our friend and fellow local blogger Lori there. I ordered what's listed on the menu as an appetizer but can definitely serve as a full meal for one person or even two people, depending on the largeness of your appetite. The Lebanese sampler plate ($13.99) consists of one shish kebab (skewer of marinated, grilled beef cubes), one shish taouk (skewer of marinated, grilled chicken), several large kefta meatballs, three falafel (fried balls made of ground chickpeas), hummus, tabbouleh salad, and pita bread, along with dipping sauces. I told you it was a meal!Once again, the beef and chicken were nicely grilled, tender and juicy. Everything was fresh and hot (well, the hummus and tabbouleh were not hot, but, as those are dishes meant to be served cool or at room temp, that was a good thing). I like this photo of the kebabs; it shows off their yummy qualities quite nicely, I think. Lori decided on the chicken kebab (shish taouk) sandwich ($5.99), described on the menu as "grilled marinated chicken, with garlic sauce, onion and tomato, in pita pocket bread." What she got was the chicken kebab meat on top of a pita with a slice of tomato and onion on top of that and sauce on the side. She had asked for the sauce on the side, so that was fine, but we'd expected the pita to be sliced and stuffed with the chicken and veggies, so that one was a little odd (no photo of this sandwich).Keith had the Italian beef sandwich ($5.99). It came with nicely seasoned, hot and crispy fries, and he allowed as how the sandwich was pretty good—not as delicious as our favorite in these parts, Manzella's, but OK. He did say he liked the bread it was served on very much.

The problem comes with the service. Well, not the service per se; more like what I'd call management and timing issues. The first time we visited, at around 6 p.m. on a weekend night, there was a fellow mopping the dining area with a bucket of something smelling strongly of Pine-Sol. That was very off-putting. None of us wanted the aroma of Pine-Sol, or, barring a major catastrophe, anyone mopping near us, period, while we were eating. Also on that first visit, one person's entrée came out and then it was a while before the other two of us got our food. This is never good, as one person sits there not wanting to be impolite and eat while no one else can, but at the same time, his or her food gets cold during the wait. We were also confused about how to order wine, but more on that in a minute.

On the second visit, we encountered the same timing problem. Though on both occasions the restaurant was not at all busy, they couldn't seem to get entrées out together. Thus, last night Lori sat with her tabbouleh salad, waiting for her sandwich, while Keith and I were served our meals. I slipped Lori pieces of meat from my plate during the wait, but it wasn't a good situation. (In addition, the kitchen was out of rice that evening. Good thing I didn't want the combo plate I'd had on my first visit.)

Regarding the wine: they need to create some sort of a list. Servers must be able to provide specifics about type, vineyard, and price per glass or bottle. When I asked which wines were available by the glass, I got vague answers I couldn't really figure out until finally I realized that if you want, say, a glass of Chianti, and there isn't one open, they'll open a bottle. So apparently you can have a glass of wine from any bottle they carry in the store; I'm still not sure. If they don't want a printed list, they could write on a chalkboard (as at The Bread Company, Farren's, and elsewhere) which wines they're offering by the glass and what each glass costs. They could highlight different wines each day or week, perhaps (and if customers tasted and liked, they might buy a bottle to take home). That way, servers could direct diners to the list and at the same time tell them, "These are suggestions/specials; we have a whole store full of wine here, so if there's something you'd like that you don't see listed, just tell me and if we have it I'd be happy to open it for you," or whatever the case may be.

Here's a shot of (part of) one of the dining areas. As you can see, it's bright and cheery in there; the six-pack cartons on the tables, which serve as napkin and condiment holders, are a cute touch.I'd go back for any of the Lebanese items. Sometime I'd like to try the gyros, too. If you visit, let me know in the comments what you ate. And by the way, if you get a sandwich, be sure to have the French fries with it; they're extra-good.

La Luna has a Web site, and you can peruse the entire menu there. Italian, Greek, Lebanese, and American food is represented, so you'll find everything from lasagna and gyros to hummus, burgers, and wings.

La Luna Café
208 North Main Street
St. Joseph, IL
217-469-0121
Open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., serving lunch and dinner

From the Pantry: Frantoia Olive Oil, Dolfin Chocolate

Olive oil and chocolate; an unlikely combination, perhaps, but hear me out. You don't have to consume them together.

In my last post I mentioned that World Harvest carries my favorite olive oil (that I can get in town; if you want to really splurge—because not only is the oil priced like gold, you have to pay for shipping, too—try Sciabica fresh-pressed California olive oil; I recommend the Sevillano variety). Not that I've sampled every oil available at every store in C-U, mind you, but I've tried quite a few, and for price and flavor, this is my favorite.Cold extracted from Sicilian olives, the oil is a dark, vibrant green with a distinctly olive-y aroma and an almost unfiltered appearance. The 1-liter bottle sells for $26.99, and there's a smaller bottle (still a good size, but I'm not sure of the exact volume) that's priced at $13.99. There's a hint of spiciness about this oil and it's kind of fruity, too. It makes a wonderful vinaigrette and it's also great simply drizzled over fresh tomatoes or whatever else you might like to top with it.

And I must tell you that when I was last at World Harvest, I picked up a bar of Dolfin Belgian (milk) chocolate with "hot masala" flavoring.I was very curious about what it would taste like. I'm not sure how those Belgians define hot; I found the chocolate to be smooth and creamy, but not spicy-hot at all. Though it has ginger, black pepper, clove, cardamom, and cinnamon in it, the spices were subtle, giving just a feeling of warmth on the tongue as I ate it. Very nice, actually. You might like to give it a try ($4.49 for the 70g/2.47 ounce bar—I know, another splurge, but you're worth it). Dolfin also makes a bar flavored with Earl Grey tea; I plan to try that one next.

Sunday Dinner: Pork Ragu with Fresh Herbs

One of the things I love about the warmer months in C-U is that I can grow my own herbs. Sure, they're available year round in the grocery store, and I do avail myself of those plastic packages during the winter sometimes, but it's so wonderful to be able to just step out the back door and clip them.

This recipe, from Michele Scicolone's wonderful book 1,000 Italian Recipes, calls for basil, mint, rosemary, and sage. For some reason I didn't grow sage this year (well, pineapple sage, yes, but I didn't think that would work too well in this sauce), so I used parsley instead. A delicious sauce indeed, one that I'll make again and again. I can't wait to try it with the fresh sage. Oh, and there are fennel seeds in the ragù, too—I love the flavor of fennel with pork.

The author notes that you can use frozen or dried herbs, except for the basil—she recommends staying away from dried basil and suggests using flat-leaf parsley if you can't get fresh basil.

Pork Ragù with Fresh Herbs
From 1,000 Italian Recipes, by Michele Scicolone

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 pound ground pork
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 28-ounce can imported Italian peeled tomatoes with their juice, chopped

Put the oil, onion, all the herbs, and the fennel seeds in a large saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender and golden, about 10 minutes.Stir in the pork, then the salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently to break up the lumps, until the pork loses its pink color, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook 1 hour or until the sauce is thickened.Serve hot. Can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days or in the freezer up to 2 months.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
As you can see, I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned, since tomatoes can still be had at farmers' market (these were Romas from Blue Moon Farm; I put probably 8 or 9 of them in). I almost never peel fresh tomatoes before putting them in sauce, but I'm not all that fond of the skins, so what ends up happening is that I pick the skins off the tomato pieces as they're cooking. Once the tomatoes get warm, the skins start to curl up and come off, so it's really not hard to remove the skins, except that you burn your fingertips and end up with a spoon rest that looks like this:Hey, I never said I was Marcella Hazan. It works for me.

Ms. Scicolone has this to say about the ragù and the pasta it was served with:

At the home of Natale Liberale in Puglia, my husband and I ate this ground pork ragù on troccoli, fresh square-cut spaghetti similar to the pasta alla chitarra of Abruzzo. It was made by his mother Enza, who showed me how she cut sheets of homemade egg pasta using a special ridged wooden rolling pin. The ragù is also good on orecchiette or fresh fettucine.

I didn't make my own pasta, and troccoli is not available in these parts, so I procured some egg pasta at World Harvest International & Gourmet Foods. I opted for pappardelle, mainly because I thought my dear husband would especially enjoy the wide noodles (I was right). World Harvest carries a mind-boggling variety of pasta, by the way.It's the only store in town where I've found the bucatini for Bucatini all'Amatriciana. World Harvest also carries my favorite olive oil in town, but that's a From the Pantry post for next time.

If you try this sauce, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Buon appetito!

Mark Bittman's Pan-Roasted Corn and Tomato Salad

What better way to make use of everything (well, almost everything—we don't grow avocados around here) that's plentiful at the farmers' market right now than this salad? Fresh sweet corn, tomatoes, cilantro, the onion, bacon, and hot peppers can all be had at the market and made into a multitextured dish with a pleasing flavor profile. I loved the smoky bacon, crunchy corn, juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, and the tang of the peppers and lime.

I'll let you go to the New York Times site to get this recipe, which I didn't change at all (although there are certainly any number of ways you could play with it). It's an all-in-one skillet dish.

Pan-Roasted Corn and Tomato Salad recipe

The bacon I had from Triple S Farm didn't have too much fat on it, and you need some fat to offset the lime, so I recommend leaving whatever fat renders out of the bacon in the pan and thus in the finished salad. Of course, if you wanted to make this salad vegetarian, you could leave out the bacon and sauté the onion and corn in a bit of oil instead. Grilling the corn before cutting it off the cobs would give a nice flavor—but why make things complicated?

This salad is very easy to make and sure to leave a lingering taste of the quickly fading summer in your mouth.

Cookout Helps Fight Hunger with Local Foods

UPDATE: This event raised $3,000 for the Eastern IL Food Bank. Way to go farmers and CGFC!

As you may know, September is Hunger Action Month, and some local folks are hosting a cookout to benefit our area food bank.

This Thursday evening, Stan Schutte of Triple S Farm and Diann Moore of Moore Family Farm will be grilling up brats and burgers, and Jon Cherniss of Blue Moon Farm will provide veggie kebabs. You'll find them grilling in the parking lot on the east side of Lincoln Square. The Common Ground Food Co-op is hosting, so you can get your burger or brat or kebab and then take it over to a table on the Co-op's spacious patio to eat.

For a $10 donation to the food bank, you can have your choice of grilled meats or veggies accompanied by a side of either cole slaw or potato salad fixed by the Common Grounders. Remember that for every $1 you give, the food bank can provide $10 worth of food to a family who needs it (100% of the proceeds from the cookout go to the Eastern Illinois Food Bank).

Feeding Illinois (formerly the Illinois Food Bank Association) has organized a number of activities for Hunger Action Month; currently, they're running "Snapshot of Hunger," in which people (you can take part!) take a photo to show what $28 worth of food and household supplies looks like, as that's the amount per person, per week that some families have to buy these items. Go take a look, and submit your own photo if you like.

In addition, the Eastern Illinois Food Bank has a calendar of events for this month that you can peruse. There's even an online game that kids can play; one activity to get them involved in becoming "hunger helpers."

If you can make it, head over to Lincoln Square on Thursday and enjoy some tasty local food and good company while you also support the efforts of our local food bank to help people in need. The need is especially great these days. If you can't make the cookout, you might consider donating the $10 you'd have spent there to the food bank online.

Also note that you can follow our local food bank on Facebook and Twitter.

WHAT: Cookout to benefit the Eastern Illinois Food Bank
WHERE: East parking lot of Lincoln Square (corner of Vine and Illinois Streets), Urbana
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, from 5 to 7 p.m.
WHO: Local farmers, members of the food co-op, and you!
HOW MUCH: $10 donation

Food Poetry 8: Apple Season

When I saw this poem on The Writer's Almanac the other day, I immediately wrote to the publisher asking permission to reprint it here, because it's so fitting. Lovely apples of all varieties are available at the farmers' market these days, and our own Curtis Orchard is in full swing. (You can go out there and pick your own apples, if you want to. Or you can just stop in for some apple doughnuts.)

But back to poetry. Thank you to Joyce Sutphen for graciously allowing me to share this poem with you. The book it appears in is temporarily out of print, but you can find other books of Ms. Sutphen's poems on the Holy Cow! Web site.

Apple Season

The kitchen is sweet with the smell of apples,
big yellow pie apples, light in the hand,
their skins freckled, the stems knobby
and thick with bark, as if the tree
could not bear to let the apple go.
Baskets of apples circle the back door,
fill the porch, cover the kitchen table.

My mother and my grandmother are
running the apple brigade. My mother,
always better with machines, is standing
at the apple peeler; my grandmother,
more at home with a paring knife,
faces her across the breadboard.
My mother takes an apple in her hand,

She pushes it neatly onto the sharp
prong and turns the handle that turns
the apple that swivels the blade pressed
tight against the apple's side and peels
the skin away in long curling strips that
twist and fall to a bucket on the floor.
The apples, coming off the peeler,

Are winding staircases, little accordions,
slinky toys, jack-in-the-box fruit, until
my grandmother's paring knife goes slicing
through the rings and they become apple
pies, apple cakes, apple crisp. Soon
they will be married to butter and live with
cinnamon and sugar, happily ever after.

–by Joyce Sutphen, from Coming Back to the Body, published by Holy Cow! Press, 2000. Reprinted with permission.

Farren's Lemon-Rosemary Potato Salad

The other night we stopped in at Farren's Pub in downtown Champaign for a bite—and were we glad we did. Keith had his usual, the Kobe beef burger with a green salad and fries (if you like blue cheese, try the homemade blue cheese dressing with your green salad; it's extra-good).

I tried one of the other specials: a lamb burger (made from Country Cottage Farm lamb) smothered with grilled Blue Moon Farm onions and peppers and served with a green salad and Todd's own lemon-rosemary potato salad. (Grilled corn on the cob was actually the other side offered with the lamb burger, but I was more in the mood for a green salad, and the substitution was gladly made.)As soon as I tasted the potato salad, I was in heaven, so I asked Todd right away if he would share the recipe and he generously agreed. The incredible flavor is due not only to Todd's delicious dressing but also to the potatoes; Blue Moon Farm's Carolas. Be sure to pick some up at the Urbana farmers' market if you try this recipe. You'll find the Blue Moon Farm stand in the first row of the market (the stand with the green umbrellas).

Lemon-Rosemary Potato Salad
Courtesy of Todd at Farren's Pub and Eatery

2 pounds Blue Moon Farm's Carola potatoes (this is about 8 potatoes; they're smallish)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
1/3 cup mayo
Salt and pepper to taste

Put whole potatoes in cold salted water. Bring to a boil. Simmer 15 minutes, then take off the heat and cover for 15 more minutes.

Squeeze lemon juice and whisk it into the mayo.

Chop rosemary leaves and add to lemon-mayo mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Test potatoes for tenderness. If not done leave in water, covered.

Quarter potatoes and mix lemon mayo into them while potatoes are hot. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Eat.

Farren's is fun, and they serve up some delicious food. You can check out the entire menu on their Web site, but be aware that there are fabulous specials, soups, and desserts, offered daily, that aren't listed there. You can always give them a call to see what's up on a given day.Farren's Pub and Eatery
308 North Randolph Street
Champaign
217-359-6977
Open 11 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, and and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Thanks again to Todd at Farren's for sharing this recipe.

If you'd like the recipe for a dish (or a beverage) you've had at a local restaurant, e-mail me at champaigntaste AT gmail DOT com and I'll do my best to get it for you.

Carmelized Onion Dip

Internet connection problems resolved—I'm back! Happy Labor Day! If you're having or attending a get-together and you still need a little something—or even if you're just going to lie around the house watching movies and snacking—here's an idea. I was thrilled when I saw this dip recipe on CHOW, because I'm always looking for new ways to use our wonderful locally made goat cheese.

And the dip was really good. What it is, is a labor-intensive (how fitting for today, ho ho!) version of that old standby, Lipton onion dip. The Lipton recipe required only that you tear open the envelope of dehydrated onions and seasonings and stir it into a pint of sour cream. I used to love that stuff, but it did tend to give me a tummy ache afterward. Not so with this updated version.

Some friends and I found that not only are potato chips good with it, but you can also dip tortilla chips, French fries, and sweet potato fries to yummy effect. Obviously, crudités like broccoli florets, carrots, and so on would be great accompaniments, too.

I didn't change a single thing about the recipe, so I'm going to let you go to the CHOW site to get it:

Carmelized Onion Dip recipe

Making the dip is not difficult at all, but you do have to dirty up one skillet and the food processor (if you don't have a processor, I think an immersion blender or hand mixer, or even just an energetic beating with a spoon would do the trick). Basically, you just brown some onions and then mix them with sour cream, goat cheese, and chives. The important thing is to cook the onions slowly until they get nice and browned. The flavor of the finished dip really was reminiscent of the Lipton one that so many of us know and love. Only better.In Champaign-Urbana you can pick up a container of Prairie Fruits Farm fresh goat cheese (chèvre) at Strawberry Fields, World Harvest International and Gourmet Foods, and even Schnucks, I believe. On Saturday mornings you can also go straight to the source and buy it from Leslie at the PFF stand at the Urbana farmers' market.

The recipe is one of six dips featured in No Utensils Required. I'm itchin' to try the Texas caviar and the Cobb salad dip next.