Jealous Much?

Yep if you aren't jealous of this picture you should be. I just had it for a little mid afternoon snack slash treat for myself. Fresh organic strawberries with mint from my balcony and homemade creme fraiche. If you haven't tried creme fraiche please do yourself a favor and try it. You can eat it the way I did over some fresh fruit or in place of sour cream on top of some soup. I have some white peaches in my fruit bowl that are going to be smothered in this creamy treat later on.

Anyhow, I've been reading a lot about food lately and in one of book full of tips I read about making your own creme fraiche. I remember none of the other tips of that book nor the book name, but I remembered that you can make your own creme fraiche with a little bit of buttermilk and whipping cream. I HAD to try it. Creme fraiche is a thickened creme that tastes somewhere like a yogurt and a cream cheese mixed together. It's sold in some stores, but it's expensive if you can find it. I've seen it called for in recipes for fancy appetizers, on soup, and for desserts. I had it first with some potato pancakes and caviar. Occasionally I would see it in the store and stare at it longingly, but remind myself that non-fat yogurt is healthier and cheaper. Only problem is now that I know how to make it easily and it's not expensive.

So you know what this means for me? Fruit smothered with cream all summer long. Then I plan on licking the bowl after the fruit is gone to get that last bit of creme fraiche up...after I can't let it go to waste. Oh yes. I promise I only do that in the privacy of my own home, but I know you've done it too when something was too good to resist.

Homemade Creme Fraiche:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tablespoon buttermilk

1) Combine the whipping cream and buttermilk in a clean jar. Let sit out at room temperature loosely covered for 8-24 hours until thickened until desired consistency. Put it in the fridge when it reaches the desired consistency where it will keep to 2 weeks. In the fridge it will slowly thicken more.

*Also if leaving dairy out at room temperature bothers you then heat the mixture slowly on the stove until 110F then leave it out.

Lunch to go

Everybody as a child has a comfort food and one of mine as a child was spaghetti noodles with soy sauce and little sesame oil. Salty and delicious with that little hint of flavor from the sesame oil. Lately I've been realizing how that's not exactly the healthiest thing in the world to eat so I've been trying to reinvent it. So what I've come up with is the following recipe, which is actually what I make for lunch quite often as it travels well and it just as good cold as it is hot. The funny thing though is that soba noodles are a recent discovery for me, as I had never even heard of them until I moved to SF. After all little Chinese girls living in Virginia don't really eat Japanese food and the ethnic markets I went to were mostly geared towards Chinese immigrants such as myself.

In case you were wondering soba noodles are a thin buckwheat noodles that are used often in Japanese cooking. You can serve them with dipping sauces or as a part of a soup. They're equally good cold as they are hot and have a bit of a nutty taste to them. Very versatile.

So today I actually made this for my own lunch and for a good friend of mine. We were supposed to have lunch together, but he couldn't stay as he had errands to run. Instead I packed up his lunch brought it out to the car and sent him on his way.

Soba Noodle Lunch:
8 oz. soba noodles
1/2 cup of scallions chopped
1 cup of shitake mushrooms sliced
2 1/2 cups of snow peas
1/2 cup of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
3 tablespoons of sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of canola oil

1) Cook the soba noodles in boiling water
2) In a wok heat the oil to med-high heat. When the oil is hot add in the snow peas and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes.
3) While the snow peas are in the pot stir together the vinegar, sesame oil, sesame seeds and soy sauce for the dressing.
4) After the snow peas are starting to cook up a bit stir in the scallions and shitakes. Keep on stir frying until the snow peas are starting to wilt just a tiny bit. They should still be very crispy.
5) Drain the noodles and stir in the dressing along with the veggies.

Whole wheat and loving it

A few weeks ago I made this luscious salad for a casual dinner with some friends at my house. I was looking to use up some whole wheat pasta that I've had in my pantry for ages. I'm not a fan of whole wheat pasta, because it tastes a little off to me. Too hearty, too much texture and too much flavor in it or in other words it tasted too healthy. However, this particular night I was feeling healthy and in the need of a light flavorful dish.

So I pondered and poked about in my pantry and fridge for some culinary inspiration. What resulted was this pretty pasta salad made from pantry staples and produce from my Eatwell Farms CSA box. It was perfect as a side dish along with some roasted salmon. I loved it so much that a week later I made a huge batch of it for my bookclub girls where it garnered some rave reviews. The best part is that it's amazingly simple.

Lemon & Asparagus Pasta Salad
8 oz. whole wheat pasta
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1/3 cup of lemon juice or juice of 3 lemons
3 cups or 1 bunch of asparagus chopped
1/2 cup of shaved Parmesan
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

1) In a large pot set pasta to boil. When pasta is halfway done about 6-8 minutes add in asparagus. The asparagus just needs a couple of minutes to get nice and tender.
2) Meanwhile in a bowl start juicing lemons and zest one. Add in salt, pepper, olive oil and whisk together.
3) Drain pasta and asparagus. While still warm toss with the olive oil and lemon mixture. Top with Parmesan. If the pasta salad will melt the cheese a little bit making it extra savory.