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Archive for February, 2010

Cooking classes with Hani Khouri

Posted in chef, food, tagged , , , on February 10, 2010|

Hani Khouri of Redland Mediterranean Organics and Sous Chef 2 Go announce the start of their cooking classes at Sous Chef 2 Go location in the Greenery Mall in Kendall.

The first series of three classes begins on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The objective of the classes is to: increase cooking skills, develop a healthier lifestyle, and learn to budget food better. You will also enjoy the fruits of your labor!

The fees for the series include all class ingredients and food. Wine and other beverages will be provided and are included in the cost. Series fee: $400. Book early, as each series is limited to 10 people.

Make your reservations online at Sous Chef 2 Go then click on 1st 2010 Cooking Classes, or register in person at the store. Hours are Monday – Saturday 9 am – 8 pm.

Cooking Classes

Cooking Basics (2 sessions)

Basic cooking utensils
1) Measuring cups/spoons, timer, thermometer, strainer, pastry brushes
2) Mixing bowl/mixing spoon, wire whisk, rubber scraper, spatula, tongs,
3) Rolling pin, paring knife, French knife, turner, cutting board,

Basic cooking terminology
1) Boil, beat, chop, core, cream, cut in, fold, grate, grease, knead
2) Pare, sauté, simmer, stir, toss

Tricks of the trade-substitutions
1) Allspice, baking powder, honey, milk, sugar
2) Spices, herbs

Food Safety
1) Personal hygiene
2) Adequate temperature control
3) Cross contamination
4) Proper final cooking temperature

Food Preparation (2 sessions)

Cooking organic
1) What is organic?
2) Where and how to buy
3) Meal preparation

Mediterranean culinary basics
1) Salads – tabouleh, fattoush
2) Dips – hommos, baba ghanouj
3) Grape leaves, kibbeh

Sous Chef 2 Go, “Recipe in a bag” demonstrations

Fresh falafel making

Location:

Sous Chef 2 Go
7758 SW 88 St.
Miami, FL, 33156
305.595.8010 or contact@souschef2go.com

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In a pickle

Posted in food, photo, recipe, vegetables, tagged , on February 9, 2010| 5 Comments »

French breakfast radishes pickling in brine.

Overwhelmed by the amount of radishes that you’ve been seeing in your CSA box? Couldn’t possibly eat them all right away? Pickle them! I didn’t know you could make brine pickles with radishes until I saw a giant jar on top of the barn refrigerator. Thanks to farm intern Jamie for telling me how the pickles were made. Haven’t tried the recipe yet but it looks simple enough. These radishes would be a tasty addition to a meat and cheese sandwich.

Brine-cured pickled radishes

Brine is 1 tbsp. pickling salt to 1 qt. water
cut up or whole radishes
several whole cloves of peeled garlic
several branches of dill

Wash and trim radishes. Wash and chop dill. Put them in a jar along with peeled garlic. Mix up brine and pour over radish mix until just covered. Fill any air space at the top with a plastic bag full of water. It also acts as a weight to hold the radishes down. Cover mouth of the jar with a coffee filter kept in place with string or elastic. Let the pickles sit undisturbed for at least 3 to 5 days. Test the pickles after 5 days, may want to ferment them longer. When they are to your liking, move the jar to chill in the refrigerator. The pickles will keep for several months.

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Help support local agriculture

Posted in agritourism, politics, tagged , on February 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

Some of you buy local produce through the CSA and others drop by the farmers market on Sunday. But there’s still a lot more that local growers could do to get their fruits and veggies to your table, or you to their table!

Farmer Margie has written about three ordinances up for a second reading on Tuesday Feb. 9th at 2 pm, before the Miami-Dade County Commission’s Budget, Planning and Sustainability Committee headed by Commissioner Katy Sorenson. One proposed ordinance would allow for B&B’s in the farm area, one would allow growers to process products that they grow (making dried fruit or ice cream, for example), and one would allow building a distillery to make spirits from local fruits. Click over to the Bee Heaven Farm’s blog for more info.

Read the full agenda for the Committee meeting here. (The link posted on the BHF blog doesn’t work.) You can also download pdf’s of the proposed ordinances from that web page. Don’t forget to contact Commissioner Sorenson at District8@miamidade.gov or (305) 375-5218 to give her your support on these ordinances. They are scheduled to come up for a final vote before the full commission sometime in April.

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Potato Pandemonium!

Posted in agritourism, chef, events, farm, food, locavore, vegetables, tagged , , on February 7, 2010|

Join us Wednesday, February 24, 2010 for
A Possum Trot Experience! presented by Bee Heaven Farm

POTATO PANDEMONIUM

Native to the New World Tropics, potatoes are used around the world in many different cuisines. Experience the incredible variety of potatoes at this one-of-a-kind event.

MENU
Potato Vichyssoise Soup with Multicolored Chips
Potato Salad with Carambola Relish
Scallopes Potato with Betel Leaf
Individual Potato Souffles
Parsley Potatoes
Smoked Potato Medley
Meat ‘n Potatoes
Potato Pancakes Topped with Fruit & Cas/Passion Sauce

Your unconventional experience will include sampling from a selection of 35 years’ worth of home-made wines from tropical fruits grown on the farm.

Limited seating in quasi-formal setting in a rustic old Florida farmhouse.
$100 per person * 6:30 pm serving
Come early for an informal class on sustainable cooking techniques and unusual uses for local ingredients.

RSVP with advance payment required by Saturday, February 20th.
Cancellations accepted up to 48 hours prior to event.
No refunds for no-shows or late cancellations.

REGISTER NOW

Where:
Possum Trot Tropical Fruit Nursery
14955 SW 214th St
Miami, FL 33187-4602
305-235-1768

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Meet Your Grower: Steven Green

Posted in farmer/grower, fruits, photo, recipe, tagged , on February 6, 2010|

Steven Green, Green Groves

Meet Steven Green of Green Groves. His day job is professor of tropical biology, conservation and statistics at UM. He also has a two and a half acre grove of various fruit trees. The cute little clementines from a couple weeks ago were his. This week we have lemons from his grove. Steve doesn’t know the name of the variety but does know it was planted in 1938. He says their flavor is “much brighter and more flavorful,” than your average supermarket lemon, and the fruit has a moderate amount of seeds and thick skin.

Steven grows lemon, lime, carambola, calamondin, allspice, monstera, avocado, tangerine, 5 kinds of mango, and lychee. He has been growing fruit since he moved to Redland in 1978, when he bought a 2 1/2 acre avocado grove with trees planted originally in the 1930s. There are still a few of those left, including the lemons. In 1991 Steve planted lychees, but Hurricane Andrew knocked them all down the following year. Putting his scientific knowledge to good use, Steve replanted 125 lychee trees at what he calls the “optimal distance” for orb weaver spiders. They prefer a span of about 2 meters from branch edge to branch edge for their webs. Once the spiders made their webs and settled in, there have been no problems with caterpillar moths in the groves. Lychees have so few pests, Steve says, that he doesn’t used pesticides in his grove. He’s now in the process of getting the grove certified organic.

Lemon from Green Grove

When Steven has way too many lemons, he makes this North African lemon preserve:

Cut the lemon into quarters, bury in kosher salt, add chilis (optional).
Can take out spoonfuls of liquid to cook with.
Store salted lemons in frig.

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